BURLINGAME — California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd issued the following statement congratulating President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for their historic victory in which they garnered nearly 76,000,000 votes in the 2020 election.

“On behalf of our 310,000 members, CTA congratulates President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their reverberating win.

“This historic victory marks the beginning of a new era of promise and hope for a future that celebrates democracy and embraces our differences. Our newly elected leaders recognize public education is the very fiber of our democracy and are committed to working alongside educators to ensure America’s students have an equitable, just and adequately funded system that promotes unity through opportunity and inclusivity in our schools and colleges.

“More than 74 million voters, amidst the pandemic, historically voted for the first woman to serve as our nation’s Vice President. We congratulate and celebrate California’s own Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for this momentous victory – a victory for Black, South Asian, and women and girls of all descents.

“President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris are the leaders our nation needs at this very moment. Working with the scientific and medical experts, they will prioritize combating the coronavirus and its effects on the economy by providing much-needed, science-based guidance and resources across all sectors, including our public schools and colleges. United and following common sense measures, we can begin to heal as a nation.

“We are also grateful to see California’s own Linda Darling Hammond leading the education transition team. Her breadth of knowledge and expertise in this process will ensure our students end up with a competent practitioner serving as the Secretary of Education following a term of blinded, self-serving actions that stripped students of the most basic American rights.

“We look forward to working with, and supporting the Biden-Harris administration as we prioritize safely reopening schools for in-person teaching and learning, and having the resources, testing and necessary safety measures in place to protect our students, educators and communities.”

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The 310,000-member California Teachers Association is affiliated with the 3 million-member National Education Association.