Governor Moore Speaks at American Federation of Teachers Convention

Updated: Monday, July 20, 2026

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ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Wes Moore today spoke at the American Federation of Teachers Convention to highlight his work building pathways to teaching apprenticeships, in addition to expanding and protecting collective bargaining rights for workers across the state.

​Governor Moore’s American Federation of Teachers Convention remarks as delivered:

Good morning, good morning, good morning! Good morning, AFT!

Listen, I am so happy to be here with y'all.

And let me tell you, Randi was talking about my time in the Army.

And one of the things I learned is that you never learn anything about anybody in times of ease.

Because in easy times, anybody can show you anything. If you ever want to learn anything about anybody, watch them when it is hard. Watch them when it is tough. Watch them when the heat got turned up. Watch if they rose or if they withered.

And one thing I know about my friend Randi Weingarten is she does not back down. She does not blink. She does not flinch. She does not kowtow. She is a fighter and a friend.

And Randi, I am so thankful to be here with you, and humbled to be able to follow you and to hear that absolutely wonderful introduction. God bless you, and thank you so much.

I also know that Brian Bryant — the president of the Machinists — is here as well. Shout-out to all of our Machinists friends as well for all the work that they are continuing to do.

You know, I gotta give a special shout-out to all of my Marylanders here and the Maryland AFT delegation.

Y'all gotta understand, I break up the world in two different groups of people. It's Marylanders and future Marylanders. So to all of our Marylanders, I love y'all and shout-out and thank you so much.

I will not let this moment pass without giving a shout-out to all of the workers here at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center who have been doing an amazing job. Making sure that we are safe, making sure that we are fed, making sure that we are protected, making sure we are having a great time.

And shout-out to all of you as well.

I am really humbled to be here too, particularly on a Sunday morning. For those who know my background and my family background, we come from a long line of preachers and teachers.

That's my family. And whether it is people like my grandmother or people like my mother-in-law who are lifetime AFT members and proud AFT members. Whether it was people like my cousins who work in health care. Whether it was people who every single day work to fight to make sure that all of us are seen and not just some of us. We all stand on the shoulders of the AFT. We all stand on the shoulders of those who have fought and worked on behalf of us, and who have fought and worked in the hope of us. We are better because of you.

It's the people in this room who inspire me every day. It's our educators and our municipal workers. It's our bus drivers and our cafeteria workers. It is our professors and our researchers. It is our nurses whose hands healed this nation.

You inspire me because education is the foundation that all of us rest on. And it's a foundation that all of us lean on.

You inspire me because you make sure that our students know that there is never a room that they don't belong in. That our students are never in a room because of someone's benevolence. Our students are never in a room because of someone's kindness. Our students are never in a room because of someone's social experiment. Our students are never in a room because someone wanted to sprinkle diversity into the room. Our students are in that room because that room was incomplete until they showed up.

And it took me a while to understand that. And it was educators who helped me to.

Because as Randi pointed out, I watched my dad die in front of me when I was three years old.

I watched how my mom instantaneously became an immigrant single mom – who was now trying to navigate how unexpectedly she was now going to raise three kids on her own, and was trying to figure out how exactly she was going to do that. I was a kid who felt handcuffs on my wrists by the time I was 11 years old. Because we came up in communities that were overpoliced, and we knew it.

There was not much about my childhood that people could look at me and one day say, “Well, that's our future governor.”

But I'm here because there were people who helped me to see more than what was just directly in front of me. There were people who were willing to fight for the hope of me.

And I think about people like my middle school Spanish teacher, Señora Rothstein.

I admit, I was having some troubles when I was growing up. And I cannot call myself a model student as I was coming up. I had actually done an amazing feat where I was basically kicked out of every single class, with the exception of one — that was my middle school Spanish class.

And then one day Señora Rothstein got so fed up with me. And one day she said, "Get out of my classroom."

She sent me to the principal's office where there was basically a seat that felt in some ways like it was an assigned seat for me when I got sent to the principal's office. I remember sitting there. Then Señora Rothstein came in and joined me. I saw something I'd never seen before. I literally saw tears welling up in her eyes. Not mine — hers. She said to my principal: “The thing that hurts me most is he doesn't even realize how smart he is.”

That hit me. That moment and hearing her say that is something that is actually etched in my memory. And I've never lost it. Because she saw me. She was willing to fight for me. And she wanted me to understand a basic rule that I want for all of our kids to understand: While the world does not revolve around you, the world would be incomplete without you.

If Señora Rothstein didn't see me, I don't know if I ever would've joined the United States Army.

If she did not see me, I don't know if I ever would've ended up running one of the largest poverty-fighting organizations in this country.

If she did not see me, I don't know if I ever would've been the 63rd governor of the state of Maryland and the first Black governor in the history of the state of Maryland.

But she, and so many others, were willing to fight for the hope of me.

That's what this union has done since its inception.

This union stood up for equal pay for Black teachers and every single Black child to have a right to education — two years after its founding in 1916.

This is the union that stood with a young lawyer from Baltimore, Maryland — Thurgood Marshall. Because AFT was the only education organization to file an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in Brown versus Board of Education.

This union helps to build the future. That helps to make sure that we have a society that those who came before us fought for. And that helps to build the society that those who come after us deserve.

This union is as necessary now as it has ever been.

Because we are watching how, in this moment, a federal administration is trying to disenfranchise Americans under the guise of making America great again. We are seeing how we have politicians who are trying to ban books. We have a president and a vice president who seem to be hellbent on weakening unions, and they are trying to make the pain that they are causing permanent.

It's been one year since Donald Trump and JD Vance got their so-called Big Beautiful Bill across the finish line. And I'll say this. If you're a billionaire, congratulations. You got your bill. If you're a billionaire, you had a great year. But if you are a working family, if you are a senior, if you are a student or an educator — you got hosed by this bill.

Donald Trump and JD Vance cut Medicaid deeper than it's ever been cut in the history of the program. In Maryland, in our state, close to 200,000 of my people could lose their health care for nothing. And our rural hospitals stand to lose a quarter of a billion dollars.

Donald Trump and JD Vance cut food assistance — as if hungry kids learn better.

And buried inside that bill is a tax scheme that takes public funding and steers it towards private schools.

So there is a real and a justified anxiety in this country, and there's a real and a justified anger in this country.

I think about something that I learned when I was in the Army. I joined the Army when I was 17 years old. I wasn't even old enough to sign the paperwork. My mother had to sign the paperwork for me. But after my teenage years, my mother signed whatever paperwork the Army put in front of her. And on day two of our training, they taught us something: Leave no one behind. Ever.

You get one of my people, I will send a battalion in to go get them if I have to. We leave no one behind.

And what we are showing and proving in the state of Maryland is that is not just a mantra, it is a governing philosophy.

Because at a time when we are seeing how Washington is giving billionaires a tax cut, in the state of Maryland, we have actually given the middle class a tax cut. We made the wealthiest Marylanders pay more so we could have top-quality public education and not have to lay off police officers and not have to lay off firefighters.

At a time when SNAP is under attack, Maryland's SUN Bucks program — Maryland's summer food program for our kids — has now fed close to three-quarters of a million children inside of the state of Maryland.

Making sure that food for our kids should not have to only come when they are inside the classroom. Fundamental hunger is something we can and we will combat in the state of Maryland.

At a time when over 31,000 Marylanders have been fired by this federal administration – think about that. Over 31,000 people have been fired in one year – in one state.

Maryland has endured more pain from this federal administration than any other state in this country. We're talking about people who are doing things like making sure our food is safe. We're talking about people who are doing things like making sure that our planes are not colliding. We're talking about people who are doing things like making sure they're trying to find the cures to diseases.

And at a time when we are watching this assault on our federal public servants — our friends and our neighbors — by this federal administration, I am going to be clear and loud and say it loud enough so the people in the back hear me.

I am unapologetically pro-worker. I am unapologetically pro-union. And that is because Maryland is unapologetically pro-union.

Despite the fact that our administration inherited an economy that had barely grown for the four years before I came into office, I was very clear that I refused to balance our budget on the backs of our educators and balance the budget on the backs of our workers.

I'm proud that every year since we have been in office, we've not only balanced our budget, but we've also given our state workers a raise at the same time as well.

I'm proud that once again this year, we made the largest investment in K-12 education in Maryland's history.

So do not tell me that somehow we have to choose between making sure that we can balance our books and also making sure we're investing in our future. Because you don't.

I'm proud of the fact that at a time when the federal administration is trying to do things like ban our books and ban our history and try to muzzle our educators, well, in the state of Maryland, I was very proud to sign legislation banning the banning of books. You will not ban books inside of the state of Maryland.

And I'm proud of the fact that our administration has passed more laws to expand and protect collective bargaining than any administration in a generation.

More than 5,000 Maryland state supervisors were locked out of the bargaining process because old laws labeled them management. Now, all those folks, they can do what they should have been able to do the entire time, which is bargain.

And for years, more than 2,000 Maryland library workers did not have the right to form a union. Well guess what? Now they can organize.

And our adjunct and non-tenure track faculty — folks teaching multiple classes on multiple campuses — who before could not actually collectively bargain. Well guess what? In Maryland, they've got their collective bargaining rights now too.

And I know this was a top priority for Randi. And I want to say thank you to Randi. I want to say thank you to Kenya Campbell. I want to say thank you to the AFT. Because of your work, because of your push, because of your advocacy, and because of your partnership, we got it done.

Working together since we've taken office in Maryland, we have cut the teacher vacancy rate in Maryland by over half. We have put 32 million dollars behind our Grow Your Own program — built with unions — which is making sure that we can get more of our paraeducators into the classroom to teach if they so choose. It also creates a debt-free pathway for education support professionals to become licensed teachers themselves.

And this fall, I am excited to say that we will welcome our first cohort of registered teacher apprentices inside of our classrooms. They will earn a wage, they will earn credit, and they will earn their way into the classroom, all at the same time.

Because I fundamentally believe if you are committed to our students, if you're committed to education, if you're committed to service — you should not have to go broke doing it.

With all due respect to all of our other states — because I am unapologetically pro-Maryland, let's be clear — I want Maryland to have the best public schools in this country.

I see this as a very selective applause, but that's fine!

But I also know this. In order to do that, we want to make sure that we have the right people in the right seats with the right assignments. And our public schools in the state of Maryland are led by a Marylander who not just attended them, but also taught fifth grade in them. I'm talking about Dr. Carey Wright — the architect of the Mississippi Miracle — who's now leading up the Maryland Miracle that we have seen.

Because over the past three years, graduation rates in the state of Maryland are up.

Math and reading scores have increased in virtually every grade.

Third-grade reading scores have jumped 20 slots.

And none of this happened by accident. It happened because we worked together. And it's because AFT has been our partner every single step of the way.

Because we in Maryland believe in the mission of the AFT.

“Fighting for a better life for all.”

That's what makes us so unique.

That's what makes this moment so special.

That we just celebrated a 250th-year anniversary of what I still believe is the greatest experiment in world history. Nothing existed like it before. And in many ways, nothing since.

But when those initial documents were put together, it was very clear that those documents were still aspirational.

The unfinished work that began at our founding, in many cases, is still unfinished to this day. Because the truth is that when those documents were being signed, it was aspirational to think that every one of us was included in it. It was aspirational to think that every one of us was able to participate. It was aspirational to think that every one of us was going to be seen.

But there were people who were willing to push to make us a more perfect union. There were people who understood that patriotism is not a throwaway word. And that patriotism does not mean that you are blindly accepting everything before us, but it means that you will go fearless into the future to make us better.

In this moment, what we need are patriots. People who understand that the uniqueness of us is that all of us can be seen, and not just some. That where you start does not have to mean where you end. That building pathways to work, wages, and wealth does not have to be limited to those who were already born into it. That we can do something special here.

But it means making sure that all of us are part of this great experiment. So I'm thankful for this union.

Because when people say, “Is the AFT needed now?” or “Is the AFT made for moments like this?” My answer is clear. The AFT was born in moments like this.

We still have fights ahead. We still have work to be done. We are very clear not just about what's at stake, but we are very clear about the threats that are standing in front of us.

But I also believe that if you never forget who you are fighting for, you will never stop fighting.

And I also believe this — as my friend Dr. Loretta Johnson always tells us — that some fights are just worth fighting.

So we will keep on fighting to make sure that we are lending a hand to a child who is growing up in poverty and letting them know that that does not have to be their destination for life.

We will continue to make sure we are fighting for those who are fighting for a fair wage. Because it is absolutely unconscionable that this country still has a minimum wage of $7.25. We are asking people to work for conditions that you would not ask your worst enemy to work under.

We will keep on fighting to make sure that the promise of every student is important — that they know and realize how smart they are.

When you never forget who you are fighting for, you will never stop fighting for them.

So let's not just fight for what's in front of us.

Let's fight for what we see when we close our eyes.

Let's fight for what we see when we think about what a better future can look like.

Let's fight for what a fairer future can look like.

And let's fight for what a future looks like when we as a society say: We will leave no one behind.

God bless you, and thank you for all of your work. Thank you for what you continue to do for all of us.

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