First appeared on FOX: The head of the largest teachers union, who was derided for an “erratic” speech last weekend, has visited the White House dozens of times during Biden’s term.
According to White House visitor records, Rebecca “Becky” Pringle, president of the National Education Association (NEA), He gave a speech on the topic. During a weekend that drew intense criticism, President Trump has visited President Biden’s White House at least 24 times between 2021 and early 2024, a Fox News Digital investigation found.
In March, Pringle met with Biden’s national economic adviser, Lael Branard, about a month after meeting with White House public policy director Jade Cabrera.
Pringle visited the White House as part of larger meetings with President Biden in February 2024 and December 2023. Pringle also visited twice in October 2023 with Vice President Harris’ Deputy Chief of Staff, Erin Wilson.
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NEA President Becky Pringle will address the Philadelphia delegation on July 4th. (YouTube/Screenshot)
Throughout 2023, Pringle met with at least two of First Lady Jill Biden’s top aides, including a special assistant and a senior adviser, as well as former White House Domestic Council chair Susan Rice.
According to visitor logs, Pringle participated in a virtual event with the first lady along with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten the day after Biden was sworn in in January 2021. She also participated in a one-on-one meeting with President Biden in December 2022. Additionally, she attended several well-attended events at the White House in 2021 and 2022.
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At the NEA’s Annual Meeting and Representative Conference (RA) in Philadelphia over the weekend, Pringle called for social justice change in the education system in pursuit of equity.
“It’s about bringing together not just our members, but the nation, to reclaim public education as a public good, as a foundation of our democracy, and transform it into what it was never intended to be – a racially and socially just and equitable system,” Pringle said.
“We worked hard to remove a tyrannical, deceitful and corrupt White House, but the reality is that the seeds sown during that horrific time continue to sprout,” she said, referring to the Trump administration.
The White House is photographed from Lafayette Park on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/John Elswick)
She went on to vow to “protect public education,” saying, “We will fight privatization. We will fight vouchers. We will fight any plan that takes resources away from our beloved public schools,” appearing to refer to school choice.
Pringle, who donated $2,800 to Biden’s 2020 campaign and $500 to the Biden Victory Fund, said the union’s “job should be to elect people like President Biden and Vice President Harris” who have pledged to re-elect both of them this year.
She also said the union supports diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) — a controversial concept that has sparked backlash at universities, primary and secondary schools, all levels of government and private companies across the country.
The Florida Board of Governors passed a rule in January limiting public funding for DEI, defining it as “any program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes discriminatory or preferential treatment of individuals based on such classifications.”
School choice advocate Corey DeAngelis slammed Pringle’s recent comments in an earlier statement to Fox News Digital, calling her one of those “power-hungry control freaks.” [who] “They think they own your child.”
“These power-hungry control freaks think your children are theirs. They belong to a government-worshipping, parent-hating cult. It’s time to defund teachers unions and allow that money to trickle down to children,” DeAngelis said. “Becky Pringle has done what Dwight Schrute did. She’s insane and hell-bent on controlling the minds of other people’s children.”
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (right) shakes hands with National Education Association President Becky Pringle during the National Education Association’s 2022 Annual Meeting and Delegate Conference in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., Tuesday, July 5, 2022. According to the White House, VP Harris highlighted the role of educators in communities across the country and her administration’s investments to support students and educators. (Photographer: Tannen Morley/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Race” and “social justice” must be at the forefront of U.S. education policy, Pringle said at a panel discussion last year.
“For us at the NEA, justice in education has to be about racial justice, social justice, climate justice. It has to be about all of these things,” Pringle said.
“If we want to make sure that students come to school every day ready to learn, we can’t think of education as a vacuum, because everything connects to their ability to learn. So, necessarily, we have to talk about housing equity, food inequity, the reality that we’ve all experienced a global pandemic together, and, of course, it’s been the most marginalized communities that are already suffering from inequality in every social system in this country and every country.”
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Pringle previously faced backlash during the pandemic after teachers unions called for schools to close and she made more than $500,000 while teachers earned only a fraction of her hefty salary.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and the NEA for comment about Pringle’s visit but did not receive a response.
Fox News Digital’s Hannah Grossman and David Latz contributed to this report.
