WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is honoring the finalists for the 2013 National Teacher of the Year award and saluting the winner, a Washington state teacher credited with improving science enrollment at his high school.

The winner is Jeff Charbonneau, a science teacher at Zillah High School in Washington state’s Yakima Valley.

Additional Photos

2013 National Teacher of the Year Jeff Charbonneau, center, follows President Barack Obama to the Rose Garden for a ceremony honoring Charbonneau. Education Secretary Arne Duncan at left. AP

Obama made special mention of the six educators who died last December in Newtown, Conn., during a shooting spree where a lone gunman also killed 20 elementary school children.

The president said teachers encourage children’s passions, inspire their imaginations.

Obama said: “These teachers, they are the ones we entrust with our kids, they are the people who love our kids.”