NEA President: After Tonight’s Debate, Educators Are Even More Fired Up To Elect Joe Biden And Kamala Harris

WASHINGTON – NEA President Becky Pringle released the following statement reacting to tonight’s Vice Presidential Debate:

“During tonight’s debate, the Trump-Pence administration’s failure to contain COVID-19 and help students, educators, and working families through this crisis — and over the last four years – was front and center.

“Americans saw the light at the end of the tunnel from the disaster that has been the Trump-Pence administration. They heard Sen. Kamala Harris, who has spent her career focusing on empowering working families, talking directly to the American people about the Biden-Harris vision for a better America. She demonstrated how she and Joe Biden will unite us - Black, Hispanic, Native, Asian, and white, rural and urban, young and old - to contain COVID-19, to demand safe, fully resourced schools for all our children, and build the economy back better so it works for all Americans.

“This pandemic has been ravaging communities - especially Black and brown communities - across our country for nearly nine months now. At least 210,000 Americans have died from COVID. Nearly, 7.5 million Americans have tested positive for the virus. And due to the economic crisis brought on by this pandemic, millions of Americans are out of work and 835,700 educators from our public schools and colleges have been laid off or furloughed. And yet, Mike Pence tonight continued to show Americans that the Trump-Pence Administration doesn’t have a plan to stop the virus and is absent any leadership.

“Rather than explaining why his administration – the Trump-Pence-DeVos administration – still has no plan for helping communities reopen school buildings safely or assisting the 51 million public school students so they can continue learning, Pence tried to distract us from the Trump-Pence failure to curb the COVID pandemic. They want us to forget how they have failed students and deprived public schools the resources they need to safely reach and teach every student, while also working to take away health coverage from millions of Americans by repealing the Affordable Care Act.

“Tonight, America saw Kamala Harris continue to make history as the first Black woman and first person of Indian descent to appear in such a debate, inspiring countless Americans by showing them they too have a place on that stage and in the highest offices in our country.

“Senator Harris showed us not only why we need a new president, but explained how Joe Biden is the president we need in this moment. After watching tonight’s debate, educators across the nation are even more fired up to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the dream team for our students and communities.”

-###-

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org.