The senior senator from Massachusetts vowed to continue the battle for excellent schools, a decent healthcare system and a minimum wage that doesn’t abandon hard-working Americans to poverty.

“It’s a special honor to be here with you this year as you embark upon a new chapter to organize, mobilize, make your voice heard and make a difference in the nation,” said Kennedy, who was presented with a lifetime AFT membership card. “It’s essential that you make your voices heard.”

Some of Kennedy’s strongest comments were cast at the White House and its handling of the No Child Left Behind Act, a law that Kennedy co-authored. The current administration has shown itself to be faithless to the worthy goals behind the No Child Left Behind Act, he charged. “For many of us in Congress—and I know for many of you—leaving no child behind was a moral commitment long before President Bush signed a law.”

He blasted the president for underfunding NCLB by $53 billion since its enactment. And the senator said the White House revealed its real priorities when it joined with the majority of Republicans in Congress to push for private school vouchers—only four days after its own Education Department published research showing that the “private school advantage” is a myth.

The healthcare crisis also continues to escalate, and Kennedy called the current system “both a moral and economic failure.”  The bigger economic picture for working Americans also couldn’t be clearer—or worse. “Their dream of passing along a better future to their children is being undermined by depressed wages, job losses, evaporation of pensions and soaring costs of higher education,” he said.