Day 3 at SXSW EDU 2022: Cardona raises student voice, district leaders discuss population shifts

This week, K-12 Dive is on-site in Austin, Texas, at the SXSW EDU conference. Below is a recap of sessions during the conference’s third day.

“Schools are hubs of the community. It’s all about relationships.”

This is the primary truth U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona believes even more strongly following his first year as the nation’s top education official, he told a packed Wednesday keynote crowd at SXSW EDU in Austin, Texas.

The session began with a conversation between Cardona and Dana Brown, chief content officer for civic engagement platform A Starting Point, during which the secretary reiterated many of his recent talking points.

He wants to see a “renaissance of innovation” using American Rescue Plan funds and other resources available to schools. He’d like to see an increase in respect for educators, in terms of legislation that affects their jobs and the pay they receive, saying no teacher should have to work two to three jobs to make ends meet. And he’s incensed by lawmakers seeking to “bully” vulnerable students.

“We’re going to support our students,” Cardona said, adding that if there’s a civil rights violation, the Education Department will get involved.

Read the full article here.