Biden Shouldn’t Let Teachers’ Unions Hold Students Back

The Obama administration supported and encouraged promising efforts to improve public schools, and it made an important difference in districts across the country. Yet education is one of the few areas of Obama’s legacy that former Vice President Joe Biden has been slow to embrace. There is still time for that to change, and it should.

Improving American schools should be a top priority for the whole nation. Nothing matters as much for future prosperity and social justice. In this, the primary responsibility rests with states and cities, but the federal government can help. And the record shows that progress is achievable. It demands, among other things, teachers that are better paid and better trained. But it also requires political leaders who pay more attention to students’ needs and less to teachers’ unions.