Learning in Spanish
Miguel Cardona, a Puerto Rican educator, has entered a new phase of his career by launching his own company, five months after leaving his ideal position as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.
The former Secretary clarified in an interview that Cardona Solutions represents the work that remained on the To Do list after four years, his move to the private sector, and the thing that still ties him to Puerto Rico: his dedication to education.
Founded in May 2025 in Meriden, Connecticut, the educational consulting firm aims to provide mentorship and consulting services to schools, school districts, nonprofits, and community leaders in the state, where 8% of the population is Puerto Rican, as well as throughout the country.
I started Cardona Solutions because of all the calls I was receiving from people in need. The educator said, “I came to see that we needed to help organizations that genuinely want to make a difference for their students.”
He added that his background as a teacher, federal secretary, state commissioner, and school principal has given him a broad understanding of the opportunities and problems facing the American educational system.
I was selected for that role by former President Joe Biden based on my experience rather than personal preference. The former Secretary stated, “I am sharing that knowledge from a different perspective. I am more knowledgeable than half of the people in senior positions at the Department of Education.”
His Business Strategies
Cardona Solutions provides a range of cooperative alliances to tackle concerns like educational innovation, equity, institutional culture, and transformational leadership.
For instance, in order to prepare the principals and superintendents of the jurisdiction to handle any crisis or difficulty, the company has teamed up with the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS).
“Educational leaders had to innovate and adapt to new teaching methods, especially after the (COVID-19) pandemic, when academic performance declined,” Cardona remarked.
Additionally, he is in negotiations for a partnership with the Springfield school district in the same state and will begin his tenure as a professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University in Massachusetts in September.
Speaking engagements and seminars with the University of Connecticut (UConn), Yale University, Southern Connecticut State University, the National Association for Bilingual Education, the School Nutrition Association, the Ohio Education Association, and the National Association for Music Education are among the recent and forthcoming appointments.
Cardona claims that preparing students for college and the working world is what schools are failing to do.
In order to help students understand about the job market, Cardona Solutions provides additional partnerships that are exclusively focused on providing high school undergraduate programs that result in certificates and internships in businesses.
The Superpower” of Being Bilingual
Cardona’s parents are originally from Aguada, Puerto Rico, but he was born in Meriden. He was raised in a bilingual and bicultural household and was classified as an English language learner (ELL) when he first entered school. For this reason, he now calls being able to speak two languages a superpower.
That brought me to the chair of the secretary. That is what Latino kids in the United States need to work toward. The educator emphasized that it’s a skill that offers you a world of opportunities.
In keeping with that, he said that Cardona Solutions offers another kind of relationship that is specifically focused on empowering students by creating learning environments that celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity.
Through these collaborations, school districts are able to create inclusive curricula and provide multilingual pupils extra attention while honoring their original tongue while they acquire English.
In order to help students and their parents understand the financial aid options available and how to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Cardona Solutions also provides workshops on college affordability.
Regarding the distinctions in difficulties between being a public servant and a consultant, he claimed that nothing changes. Particularly in Puerto Rico, many people seem to forget that the pupils are still the major focus.
Steadfast Commitment to the Island
Not being able to complete the work he began with Puerto Rico was Cardona’s biggest obstacle during his four years as U.S. Secretary of Education.
I was pressed for time, and the current state of education there is being destroyed by their actions. The entrepreneur said that after I left, there has been a significant drop in the $6.6 billion I had allotted throughout my term.
Among other things, the funds allotted to the island during his term included many grants to promote the mental health of students following the pandemic, the reopening of schools following Hurricane Maria in 2017, and the 2020 seismic swarm.
He added, “They’re constantly politicizing everything instead of caring about the students, which is the only thing that matters, and I’ve been the only Secretary who has made Puerto Rico a priority.”
The former Secretary has previously stated, and he restated in the interview, that parents of students, not San Juan politicians, should choose Puerto Rico’s school administrators and superintendents.
However, he contended that President Donald Trump’s choices, cuts, and layoffs pertaining to the Department of Education and the job he left behind have been disastrous.
However, I have hope, the former Secretary said optimistically. All of that will change very soon, and I will be able to assist Puerto Rico.
