AFT’s Weingarten on the Biden Plan for Educators, Students and Our Future

HOUSTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after she joined Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden and for an AFT Votes town hall during which the former vice president released his comprehensive plan for public education in America:

“Joe Biden’s education plan represents the kind of muscular investment we urgently need to meet the needs of America’s kids, their families and their educators. The former vice president and Dr. Biden made clear their commitment to public schools because they know teachers are on the front line, protecting and nurturing the next generation. 

“Like so many of the other candidates’ plans we have praised, this one is far more than rhetoric: It lays out concrete steps to fund the future of American public education by tripling Title I funding and boosting funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so we live up to our promise to the country’s neediest children. It invests in mentoring and community schools and teacher diversity, closes the teacher pay gap, and doubles the number of school psychologists, counselors and nurses. It recognizes that education follows our students from birth all the way through college by fixing Public Service Loan Forgiveness once and for all, while investing in community colleges and providing universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds.

“I have worked closely with Joe throughout my career and spent today with him and AFT members from across Texas. The former vice president has lived a life filled with compassion, understanding and incredible resilience. He understands people, and he fights for them. And this education plan reflects his core values to a T.”