Diane Ravitch: Biden’s pick for education secretary must overturn DeVos’s attack on public schools

President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Connecticut public schools commissioner Miguel Cardona for secretary of education, tapping a third Latinx person to join his Cabinet. Cardona is a former teacher who represents a sharp break from outgoing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who urged career employees at the Education Department earlier this month to “be the resistance” to the incoming administration. He is Puerto Rican and began his career as a fourth grade teacher, becoming the state’s top schools official just last August, the first Latinx person to hold the position. “He’s not Betsy DeVos, and every educator in America, or almost every educator, will be thrilled about that,” says Diane Ravitch, a writer and historian of education who served as assistant secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush. “He’s been in public schools throughout his career, and that’s a big plus for many people who’ve been watching the attacks on public education, on teachers, for the past four and more years.”