Teacher Unions See Reflection in Biden, Expect Renewed Influence

Teachers unions are ready to flex long-dormant political muscle after playing defense for the past four years against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and engaging in repeated clashes with the Obama administration before that.

President-elect Joe Biden has promised a more prominent role for organized labor in his administration than under President Donald Trump or even President Barack Obama, whom Biden served for eight years as vice president.

Biden’s vision “is absolutely aligned with my own, which is to reclaim public education as a common good, as a foundation of this democracy,” said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, ...