Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) told members of the National Education Association (NEA) Friday that their union will “be at the table” if she is elected president and chooses the next U.S. Education Secretary.
“Under a Harris administration, the person who is nominated will be someone who comes from public schools,” she said. “I also promise you that you will be at the table to help me make that decision.”
Harris, who was speaking at a forum for the 2020 Democrat presidential candidates held during the NEA’s Representative Assembly in Houston, said the position of U.S. Education Secretary is “one of probably the most important positions in the president’s cabinet.”
“It is a position that is charged with a duty to concern itself with the future of our nation,” she continued.
The 2020 contender promised union members she would raise teacher pay by an average of $13,500 and fully fund special education.
Courthouse News Service reported Harris also boasted about her lawsuit against for-profit Corinthian Colleges while she was attorney general in California.
“I put them out of business,” she said. “The business model [for for-profit colleges] has clearly been to put profit over education of students. Promising students with large payments they would get an education that would allow them to get good jobs.”
Regarding school safety, Harris also said, if elected, in her first 100 days in office, she would allow Congress to take the lead in gun control.
“If they don’t, I will take executive action for a universal background check and ban importation of assault rifles in our country,” she said.