Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the National Education Association forum in Houston. | David J. Phillip/AP Photo 2020 elections Biden would name a teacher as Education secretary, wouldn't appoint his wife

Former Vice President Joe Biden told public school teachers Friday that the first thing he would do as president would be to pick a teacher as Education secretary.

But he also made a pledge about that appointment.


"So the press doesn’t get confused, I promise I’m not going to appoint my wife," Biden said of Jill Biden, a community college professor. "She’d be a good one."

Biden was speaking at a National Education Association forum in Houston for 2020 candidates that was part of the teachers union’s annual representative assembly. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has also said she would name a teacher, reiterated that plan during the forum held by the nation's largest labor union.

"Betsy DeVos need not apply," she said of the current Education secretary.

Biden wasn't asked about his position on school busing, which became a major issue during the first Democratic presidential primary debate in June. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) blasted him for supporting measures to limit the use of federal funds for integration busing in the 1970s when he was a senator representing Delaware.

Harris, appearing later in the forum, was not asked about busing in questions submitted by teachers and did not mention it.

She did say that she wants “someone from public schools" to lead her Education Department and promised the union it would "be at the table to help me make that decision.”

