WASHINGTON - Today, the National Education Association announced a first-ever #StrongPublicSchools Presidential Forum focused on issues that impact students, educators, and neighborhood public schools, to be held at the union’s annual Representative Assembly in Houston, TX, on July 5, 2019. The forum will provide 2020 candidates the opportunity to answer questions from America’s educators about the future of public education for our students. Confirmed attendees include former Vice President Joe Biden, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Gov. Jay Inslee, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, with other confirmations expected in the coming days. The forum will be moderated by NEA president Lily Eskelsen García.
"For more than a year, the national #RedForEd movement, led by educators and supported by parents and students in communities across the country, has seen hundreds of thousands of people taking action to ensure every student has equal opportunity regardless of where they live or how well off their families are," said García. "Educators are poised to play a major role in choosing the president of the United States. And now we are taking this energy to the 2020 campaign where we will lead a conversation about the schools our students deserve."
The #StrongPublicSchools Presidential Forum will occur on the afternoon of July 5 where each candidate will answer questions from NEA members about their plans for public education including how to provide opportunity for every student, how they plan to provide the resources and tools that attract and retain educators to the profession, and how they will listen to the voices of the professionals who know the names of the students in America’s classrooms. Other core NEA issues can be found on NEA’s Strong Public Schools website.
The NEA’s Representative Assembly is the world’s largest democratic deliberative body, larger than the RNC and DNC combined, in which nearly 7,000 educators chart the course for the future of the organization. With more than 3 million members, the NEA is the largest labor union in America and the world’s largest professional association of educators. One in 100 Americans is an NEA member and 1 in 39 voters reside in an NEA household. Educators are poised play a major role in choosing the president of the United States, and NEA members represent sought after demographics including college-educated women and suburban professionals swinging elections from coast to coast.
The #StrongPublicSchools Presidential Forum will be open press with ground rules and logistics to follow. NEA will provide space for journalists who wish to attend. Requests for credentials should be sent as soon as possible to [email protected]. Credentials for the forum do not grant access to other NEA events in Houston. If you would like to cover other events please indicate that in your request.
