Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., is officially running for the Democratic nomination for president, and he has a message for educators: You are more than a statistic.
At his , Buttigieg ticked off a host of reasons why the Democratic Party embraced freedom. And he made sure to give a nod to the nation鈥檚 teachers, who are being courted in various ways by Buttigieg鈥檚 2020 rivals.
鈥淓mpowering teachers means freedom,鈥� Buttigieg told the crowd. 鈥淏ecause you are not free in your own classroom if your ability to do your job is reduced to a number on a page.鈥�
His implicit criticism of the idea that standardized tests should play an outsized role in determining teachers鈥� effectiveness could become an easy applause line in the 2020 Democratic primary. (Former Texas congressman Beto O鈥橰ourke, for example, in his 2018 bid for the Senate.) In general, Democrats in the 2020 field have not vigorously embraced the Obama administration鈥檚 initiatives that relied in part of including test scores in teacher evaluations.
Otherwise, Buttigieg has not had a great deal of experience in鈥攐r a ton to say about鈥攅ducation policy and politics. He did dive into another tricky area for national Democrats: charter schools. Buttigieg said that charter schools can serve as according to an article earlier this month in Education Next, a K-12 policy journal. In the same piece, Buttigieg expressed concern about inadequate investment in public schools in general, and said he wants to focus pay raises for teachers on those who work at Title I schools, or those that serve a relatively high share of disadvantaged students.
In a 2017 video, Buttigieg also talked up , saying, 鈥淓ducation is the currency of the American dream. It鈥檚 how you get ahead.鈥�
Fun fact: Buttigieg鈥檚 husband, Chasten is 鈥攈e鈥檚 taking a break from his work at the Montessori Academy in South Bend to help the campaign, the Indianapolis Star reported. Pete Buttigieg said his husband鈥檚 teacher salary has informed his views on educator pay.
Photo: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg announces that he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination during a rally in South Bend, Ind. (Darron Cummings/AP)