by Donald Eng
The future of teaching as a profession is a matter of ABC, according to former U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
The Meriden native addressed the 2026 Connecticut Education Issues Summit Wednesday, tying his own background to the possibilities that open up when youths have access to a strong education system.
Cardona joked that the ABCs of teaching were necessary “because we don’t have enough acronyms in our profession” before laying out what he saw as the three main challenges. He began with agency, the ability to make choices and act independently, advocate for oneself and make decisions.
“We need to provide our educators with agency. They are professionals.”
Better working conditions was his second point. This includes not expecting teachers to teach in 98-degree classrooms in June, he said.
“We don’t do that in any other profession,” he said.
Competitive salaries made up the third component, he said.
“Why have we normalized that teachers in our country get paid 24% less than people with similar degrees in other professions?” he said. “In over 30 states in our country, teachers qualify for state assistance.”
He also pointed out the student teaching requirements — getting certified to teach in Connecticut requires 10 weeks or more of student teaching experience.
“Why have we normalized the fact that in this country, this is the only profession where you have to work for free for four months before you walk into it,” he said. “And then we wonder why there’s shortages? We need to do better.”
Cardona also credited quality teachers as a safeguard against disconnected youth, and a pipeline to helping each student achieve to their greatest potential.
“I had only what the local neighborhood school could provide,” he said of his youth in Meriden. “There are teachers that saw things in me that I didn’t see. There I had a system that didn’t see my deficits but saw what I could bring to the table.”
While at Wilcox Technical High School, studying automotive technology, another teacher asked if he had ever considered becoming a teacher himself, he said.
“It was what the public school provided me that gave me the opportunity to see something in myself that I didn’t see before,” he said. “Our public schools do that across the country, across the state. Miracles are happening every day.”
In addition to Cardona, the summit featured panel discussions on educator workforce, improving educational outcomes and job protections and comments from state representatives Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, and Kevin Brown, D-Vernon, and U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th.
Panelists included state senators John Kissel, R-Enfield, and Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, D-Trumbull. Kissel is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and serves on the Select Committee on Special Education. Gadkar-Wilcox also serves on the Select Committee on Special Education and chairs the Government Oversight and Regulations Review committees. State Rep. Maryam Khan, D-Windsor, who chairs the select committee, also spoke at the summit as did 2024 Connecticut Teacher of the Year Kiana Foster-Morrow, 2011 Teacher of the Year Kristen Record, Connecticut Education Association Aspiring Educators program Chair Hannah Spinner, former Old Saybrook School Supt. Jan Perruccio and Newington School Supt. Maureen Brummet.