On March 28th, the University of Texas held its 2025 Latino Policy Research Symposium. What started as a student-led initiative developed into a full-day event filled with panels empowering Latinos through policy and politics. This year’s theme was Avanzamos Juntos: Fostering Economic Opportunities. In keeping with the theme, the symposium invited former Assistant Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education Montserrat Garibay to be their keynote speaker. Throughout the conversation, which Neto Longoria beautifully orchestrated, Garibay touched on her experience as a teacher, her time working at the Department of Education, and her story as an immigrant.
Garibay was born in Mexico City and immigrated to the United States when she was just twelve years old. Throughout the conversation, she spoke earnestly about the realities of living life as an undocumented immigrant: “My mother was always very strict and very honest about the fact that we were undocumented, and that we needed to have Plan A and B and C. So, my whole life I’ve always learned to have Plan A, B, and C, and to be courageous.”
Garibay attended ELS classes and quickly found a safe space with her teacher: “There was this woman in front of the door, Mrs. Hernandez. She looked just like me, and she spoke Spanish.” Garibay says, her voice wavering with emotion, “And right there, I knew that my sister and I were going to be okay. She became our guardian angel, and I just loved going to that class.” At just twelve years old, Garibay excelled in the curriculum, becoming fluent in English in just one year. Her mother made it a point to prioritize education. “My mother would often say, ‘You know, I’m not rich. I’m not leaving you money. The only thing that I can leave you is your education. That’s something that nobody can take away from you.’”
The monumental role Mrs. Hernandez played in Garibay’s life ultimately inspired her to pursue a career in teaching. Garibay would later receive a Master’s in Bilingual Education from UT and become a bilingual teacher for Pre-K students in Austin ISD. “I learned to really integrate the parents in my schooling,” Garibay explains. “A lot of the parents worked in construction and landscape.” Around that same time, Garibay had received a grant from the University of Texas to integrate science into the curriculum. Combining both, Garibay had an idea. “There was a beautiful garden outside of my classroom,” She explains, “So I invited the dads to come and teach us how to do a butterfly garden.” The impact this had on the students was instant. Every Friday, the fathers would come to the class and help the children with the garden, and every Friday, the students would get to connect with their parents and learn more about science. It was just one example of the exemplary educator that Garibay was.
As she continued teaching, she found herself getting involved with the union that supported teachers in Austin ISD. Advocating for full-day pre-K, to actually only have the maximum amount of students required. Before long, she joined in and became the first Latina immigrant to be part of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
As the conversation segued into the Department of Education, Garibay shared her experience in both of her positions, “So, yesterday somebody asked me what’s a word that would describe my years in DC, and I kept thinking about it and last night I was like, I think the word would be impactful. In so many levels.”
For Garibay, serving under the Biden/Harris Administration was a dream come true. Her initial position as the Senior Advistor for Labor Relations saw her as the middle-man between all the unions and Secretary Cardona. During the era of loan forgiveness in 2020, Secretary Cardona became aware of the issue that many people who qualified were not receiving the proper aid. Garibay was one of the people tasked with investigating and helping bridge that gap. After two years in the position, “Secreaty Cardona asked me to step into the role of being in the Office of English Language Acquisition. Which, of course, I said yes right away, but first it was just going to be for 120 days and then 150 and then they were like ‘You’re doing great, why don’t you just apply’. So I applied, and I got the job.”
The position felt like a homecoming of sorts, “To be able to go back to my roots of being a bilingual educator, and to be able to serve 5.3 Million English-Learners in our country.” It all felt serendipitous. Throughout her time in DC, Garibay toured all sorts of different schools. “It was really fascinating to see these teachers teaching trigonometry in Spanish. And the kids testing in English, and out performing students.” It felt empowering, encouraging students to be bicultural, bilingual, and biliterate. “I love that work because when you actually invest in our kids, you can actually see that investment. They become bilingual, they become community leaders…and that work was just very impactful.”
As the conversation shifted to the current day, Garibay was transparent about her concerns with the Department of Education. She commented directly on the 1,300 federal workers in the Department of Eucation who were let go, “This really sends a very scary message to our whole nation. When we stop investing in our students, then what do we stand for? It just sends a message that you’re not important enough to be invested in. And I think we can all agree that having an education has changed our lives in different ways. And more than ever, it’s important to invest in our students.” Garibay also pointed out that most of the people insisting on these laws don’t send their own children to public school. Their children attend private schools, while they pass laws that will only impact low-income students.
As the riveting Keynote was coming to an end, Garibay left her final message to educators: “We need to turn off the TV, we need to turn off social media, and we need to advocate for what our community needs. Make sure that we are attending town hall meetings. We need to make sure that we’re calling our senators, our congressman…but most importantly, we need to share our stories of how the federal government has helped us.” As the talk came to a close, Garibay urged listeners not to lose hope. As a former educator, she knows more than most that you always keep fighting.
Montserrat Garibay’s story is the true American Dream. Entering this country in search of a better life and flourishing into success. Throughout her eight years in teaching or her four serving our country in the Department of Education, Garibay has kept community service a top priority. She is a true leader in every sense of the word, and getting to hear her speak was incredibly inspiring.
