By Katie Hofmann

For over 35 years, I taught music in Cincinnati, Ohio, for every grade from kindergarten through 12th. And during that time, I watched ever more corporate money work its way into public education, and saw standardized testing and test prep take over time for teaching. More recently, I’ve watched Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration disrespect teachers and public education and flaunt their support of private schools and for-profit charters. Our country urgently needs a reset, and that’s why I support Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.

My number one reason for supporting Sanders is that, throughout my years of working, I’ve valued my union — and I’ve been a leader in my union for most of my career. Sanders understands how important unions are to this country: He is going to be a champion for our values. He also understands how there’s a lot of money behind the scenes in education policy, all of it out to destroy public schools. He knows that vouchers and many charters are taking away from the promise of good education, and he has been on the forefront fighting against that. Equally important, Sanders cherishes women’s rights. I’ve fought for women in the workplace for most of my career, so it’s critical for me to have a candidate who believes in women.

What I find most exciting about Sanders as a candidate is that, when it comes to education, he understands that people in the profession — particularly teachers — know most about what it is to teach children and how we should be determining and meeting their needs.

You won’t get that knowledge from a state report card or a standardized test. If we want to raise our kids to be creative problem solvers, we need to be hearing from the people who are actually trained in the profession. We need to get back to respecting teachers, and I believe Sanders will get our country back to doing that.

We’re facing some big problems. I taught in a large urban district for years. There was a tremendous proportion of children whose families had recently come to the United States, as well as a large percentage of children with special needs. Both were being disserved. Special education funding has never reached the levels necessary (or promised!) to support our children. And for our children living in poverty, the funds that were intended to support them were not getting to the schools. Many of their parents were working three jobs; some were incarcerated for low-level drug offenses.

Since then, my school created something called the Community Learning Center, which makes the school the hub of what’s going on in the community. The Community Learning Center is a Cincinnati Public School initiative recognized nationally. If parents need help, this is the place for them to get it, along with any other extra services and enrichment for their children and families. This is the kind of community program that Sanders fights for. It’s in sharp contrast with the disrespectful and defunding policies promoted by DeVos.

Sanders is the strongest person to win the election against President Donald Trump because he is consistent in his values. Sanders is solid. He is not fake. And he tells it like it is. He has a tremendous amount of appeal for young people; they see a vision for the future in Bernie Sanders. For our 25-and-unders and for women, this election presents an opportunity to make a huge difference for our nation.

I’m passionate about politics: I’ve voted in every single election I can recall and worked on many of them too. November 2020 is a time when we can take our country back. I’m excited about voting this fall — for the future, for my grandchildren, for the grandchildren of all my former students. We’ve got to have a country to leave them. Sanders can make sure that there is.