Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona hosted the first Back to School Night at the White House on September 21. The event celebrated teachers and public education in America.
“You would be amiss if you’re here today and you do not feel the excitement and the energy and the hope for our country that exists in public education,” National Teacher of the Year Missy Testerman said.
Teacher of the year winners from all 50 states were flown to D.C. to attend this event with two students and two teachers each.
Junior Krishna Khushlani and I were chosen as the two students to accompany 2024 Georgia Teacher of the Year, Christy Todd, alongside 2023 District Teacher of the Year, Michelle Shaw, and 2024 District Teacher of the Year and Starr’s Mill engineering teacher, Rob Bell, to the White House.
Held on the south lawn, the event included snacks, ice cream, and outdoor games. About halfway through the event, Biden and Cardona came out and talked about the importance of this event. They emphasized the value of good accessible public education as well as teachers who truly care about their students.
“As an administration, they have worked really hard on the Seal of Biliteracy with the department of Ed, they’ve worked really hard on teacher wages and compensation,” National Teacher of the Year Program Direction Sarah Brown Wessling said. “I think there’s big things [that the administration has done for education] that you can quantify and then there are all of the things you can’t quantify but everything you can feel.”
The Biden Administration has helped public education by allocating funds for student mental health, raising teacher wages and the Seal of Biliteracy. In the spring, they allocated an additional $285 million toward student mental health as well as teacher pay increased in 30 states over the past four years.
Cardona talked about how education was the backbone of the country and how no job would be possible without it.
“This event is about lifting up the best profession, the profession that makes all other professions possible, our educators,” Cardona said.