The Senate voted Monday to confirm Miguel Cardona as secretary of education, paving the way for leading President Joe Biden’s effort to reopen the country’s schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Cardona, 45, a former public school teacher who became the head of education in Connecticut, was approved with 64-33 votes.
He is in charge of the Department of Education amid growing tension among Americans who believe students can return to the classroom safely, and others who say the risks are still too great.
Although his position has limited authority to force schools to reopen, Cardona will be asked to play a central role in achieving Biden’s goal of having a majority of elementary schools open five days a week. during its first 100 days. He will be in charge of guiding schools during the reopening process and sharing best practices on how to teach during a pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month published a roadmap to get students back to the classrooms safely. The agency said masks, social distancing and other strategies should be used, but teacher vaccination was not a prerequisite for reopening.
Cardona, who gained attention for her efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, has vowed to make it her top priority to reopen schools. At his Senate confirmation hearing last month, he said there are “great examples across our country of schools that have been able to reopen safely.”
The debate has become a political firestorm for Biden, who is caught between competitive interests as he seeks to get students into the classroom without provoking the powerful teacher unions that helped put him in the White House. He says his goal of returning students to the classroom is possible if Congress approves his relief plan, which includes $ 130 billion for the country’s schools.
Republicans have blamed Biden for not reopening schools more quickly, while teachers’ unions opposed the administration’s decision to continue with federally required standardized testing during the pandemic.
The tricky terrain is nothing new for Cardona, however, who faced similar tension navigating the pandemic in Connecticut and who has won the first praise even from Biden critics.
Republicans in Congress have applauded Cardona’s efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut and some see him as a potential ally in his support of charter schools. Meanwhile, teachers see him as a partner who brings years of experience in education and knows the demands of teaching.
The candidacy continues with a meteoric rise in Cardona, which was appointed to head the Connecticut education department in 2019 after spending 20 years working in Meriden, Connecticut public schools, the same district he attended when he was a child.
He began his career as a fourth-grade teacher before becoming the youngest principal in the state at 28 years old. In 2012 he was named Connecticut Director of the Year and in 2015 he became the district’s assistant superintendent. When he was appointed commissioner of state education, he became the first Latin to hold the post.
Cardona grew up in a public housing project in Meriden, raised by parents who came to Connecticut from Puerto Rico as children. Throughout his career, he has focused on bridging educational gaps and supporting bilingual education. It is a personal problem for Cardona, who says he only spoke Spanish when he entered kindergarten and struggled to learn English.
Cardona was the first of his family to graduate from college, and his three degrees include a doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut. He and his wife, Marissa, have two children in high school.
Her deep roots in public school fit the criteria Biden was looking for in an education secretary. During his campaign, Biden promised to choose a secretary with experience in public education. It was intended to mark a contrast to then-secretary Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who spent decades advocating school choice policies.
In an increasingly fragmented world of education, Cardona has promised to be unifying. In his confirmation hearing, he promised to collaborate with “the vast and diverse community of people involved in education.” He added that “we gain strength by uniting.”
As he works to help reopen schools, he will also be tasked with helping them fix the damage the pandemic has caused in student learning. He echoed Biden’s request for funding for additional education, saying schools will need to expand summer academic programs and hire more counselors to help students with mental health issues.
It is also likely to face early testing, as it assesses the amount of flexibility that needs to be given to states as they administer standardized testing. Last week, the Department of Education ordered states to continue with the annual tests, but said assessments could be offered online or delayed until the fall. The agency also established the possibility that states could be granted “additional evaluation flexibility” in certain cases.
Some states are already pushing for this additional flexibility, including Michigan, which calls for replacing state tests with local “benchmark” assessments that were administered this year. It will be up to Cardona to decide what indulgence should be provided.
Republicans have also set the stage to fight transgender athletes. At last month’s hearing, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Raised objections to policies that allow transgender girls to participate in women’s athletics. It is the subject of a legal battle in Connecticut, where some cisgender athletes are challenging a state policy that allows transgender students to participate as their identified gender.
Pressed by Paul to take a stance on the issue, Cardona said he would support the right of “all students, including transgender students.”