President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Wednesday welcomed some of the top teachers in the country — including Ohio’s Kurt Russell, the 2022 National Teacher of the Year — to the White House to honor them for their hard work and dedication to educating America’s children.

“Each student needs a champion no matter what the circumstances are,” Russell, a history teacher from Oberlin, Ohio, who was named teacher of the year earlier this month, said. "Each morning, parents give us their most precious gifts, their children. Parents have placed trust that we nurture, cultivate and help students find personal meaning and purpose in their lives. School is where dreams come alive.”

The president and first lady, along with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, honored the top teachers from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., several territories and the Department of Defense’s education program.

The president kicked things off by recognizing Jahana Hayes, the 2016 Teacher of the Year who is now a member of Congress from Connecticut — and poking fun at the fact that she had to leave the event early because the House called for a vote.

“She’s always used to being on time, she has to go, they just called a vote in the House of Representatives,” Biden said of Rep. Hayes. “I love you. Thanks for being here.”

Dr. Cardona, a former educator and principal himself, said he felt like he was at home among the “outstanding teachers” gathered at the White House. 

“As I travel the country I know teachers are being asked to do more and more,” Dr. Cardona said, recognizing the struggles teachers have endured during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“This will not only be Teacher Appreciation Week next week, but Teacher Appreciation Year,” he said to applause, highlighting the administration’s call for higher pay for teachers, more support staff and better working conditions, as well as student loan debt relief provided by the revamped Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

“Teaching is the foundation of all opportunity in America,” he said. “Name a profession that was made possible without a teacher. You can’t.”

Dr. Biden, who teaches English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College while serving as first lady, said that what makes teachers’ work special “isn't just the projects or presentations, it’s not the curriculum or the classroom tactics.”

“It's the calm in your voice that can still the wild horses running through their hearts,” she said. “It’s the way that you know that sometimes ‘I'm fine’ means everything is wrong. It's how they know that you're telling the truth when you say ‘it's okay, we're going to figure this out together.’”

“What makes your work so special is you,” Dr. Biden continued “The love and the joy that you bring to it. The empathy and the understanding the sheer power of your presence. You do this work because it's a part of who you are.”

Russell talked about the importance of diversity in education — both in terms of subject matter and the educators themselves.

“I realize that teaching has to be learner-centered,” he said. “Students must see themselves in the classrooms and the curriculum in order to empower and to engage.”

The 25-year veteran of the classroom teaches a number of subjects, including U.S. history, as well as elective courses in African American history and a course he developed on Race, Gender and Oppression.

“That's why I created courses that allow students to feel value,” he said. “Courses that deals with women's rights, gay rights and also a survey of Black history. It's important that my students see themselves as I see them: With unlimited potential and full of gifts.”

“I am truly blessed to be a part of a profession that transforms and legitimizes student voices and plants the groundwork for a more culturally responsive education,” he said.

The honor comes amid a Republican-led effort nationwide to restrict lessons related to sexual identity, gender and race nationwide. Critical race theory, a 40+ year old academic concept which examines race and society in the U.S. and is taught largely in higher education settings, has become a political lightning rod, with conservative lawmakers and ommentators looking to ban its teaching. 

Russell said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that the objection to critical race theory is a “dog whistle.”

“I always tell individuals I do not teach controversial courses,” he told the AP. “I teach different courses. There's nothing controversial about teaching about women's rights or the gay rights movement.”

Biden slammed those GOP-led efforts in his remarks, pledging to the teachers: “We should stand up for you. We should have your back.”

“Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in this country to be able to do,” he said. “One of the most important.”

“Today there are too many politicians trying to score political points, trying to ban books — even math books,” Biden said, referencing Florida’s recent ban of more than 50 math textbooks from its K-12 curriculum, claiming in part that some included critical race theory concepts. 

“I mean, did you ever think, even you younger teachers, did you ever think we’d teach you to be worried about book burnings and banning books, all because it doesn’t fit somebody’s political agenda?” Biden asked.

“American teachers have dedicated their lives to teaching our children and lifting them up,” he continued. “We ought to stop making them a target of the culture wars. That's where this is going.”

Biden touted the funding from his COVID-19 relief bill, the American Rescue Plan, which helped to reopen schools amid the pandemic, and his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which includes funding to expand broadband internet access nationwide. 

“As Jill says, any country that out-educates us is going to out-compete us,” Biden said. “So we have to build the 21st century, because the rest of the world isn’t waiting.”

“One of the tough images from a pandemic was children sitting in their cars with their mother or dad or older brother or sister in a McDonald's parking lot, because that's the only way they get on Wi Fi do their homework,” Biden said. “This is the United States of America for God's sake … high-speed Internet is essential. 

“We’re spending tens of millions of dollars to make sure that we have high-speed internet  available to everyone in rural America, inner city America, suburban America, throughout every single school district in America,” he said.

Biden thanked teachers “for what you do” and pledged that his administration will continue to support education.

“If I get to have one professional that’s the best in the world, not a joke, it’s you I want to be the best professional world, because you affect what this country looks like, what it’ll act like, what it'll be like — it’s success or failure — more than any other group of Americans, period,” Biden concluded. “So thanks for what you do. Keep it going. And I promise you, Jill has your back, and mine.”