Tuesday | November 27, 2018

Co-Sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute and the American Federation of Teachers

The 2018 mid-term elections had many moments of high drama. Days after the vote, two U.S. Senate seats, and two governorships were still in doubt. But the general parameters of the election – the biggest Democratic gains in the House of Representatives since Watergate, Democratic wins in at least seven key governor’s races, including two seats won by educators; and Democratic flips in six state legislative chambers – were clear. On the education front, a widely watched Arizona ballot initiative overturned a massive expansion of school vouchers in that state, and several educators from "Teacher Spring" states won elected office, but the results of California’s state superintendent race were close enough to require a full counting of votes, including vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots and those cast by voters who registered on election day.

What are the implications of these results for American education, in Washington D.C,. in state capitols and in our nation’s schools and classrooms? From a variety of perspectives our panelists addressed this question.

Speakers:

Domingo Morel assistant professor,of political science, Rutgers University; visiting scholar, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Brown University

Michael Petrilli, president, Thomas B. Fordham Institute; research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution; executive editor, Education Next; distinguished senior fellow, Education Commission of the States.

Randi Weingarten, president, American Federation of Teachers and Albert Shanker Institute

Moderator: Michelle Ringuette, assistant to the president for labor, government & political affairs, American Federation of Teachers