Obama Announces New US Education Secretary to Replace Arne Duncan

The president described him as the “right man to lead the department”.

Original story: Former New York State Education Commissioner John King Jr. will replace Arne Duncan as the nation’s Education Secretary, according to published reports.

King has been serving as an acting deputy secretary at the department since January.

King co-founded a charter school in Massachusetts in his 20s.

Duncan is moving back to Chicago, where he said, in a farewell letter to colleagues, that he has been splitting time. In 2013, the percentage of students deemed proficient fell to roughly 30 percent statewide, half of what it had been before the Common Core.

Duncan’s first two years on the job saw a few victories. The latter was a goal long sought by many Democrats.

Duncan’s tenure coincided with a roiling debate about perceived federal overreach into schools that remains a potent issue as he leaves office. “Secretary Duncan remains committed to his work in the Cabinet and will continue to serve at the pleasure of the President”.

The Debt Collective accused Duncan of presiding over “one of the worst scandals in the history of American higher education”.

Duncan’s departure means agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack will be the sole remaining Cabinet-level secretary who has been with Obama since 2009, said CNN.

“Certainly in New York, we spend a lot on our schools and the question is, are there ways that we can spend those dollars more effectively?” he said in a response to an inquiry about whether the state would provide more money to help schools implement Common Core.

Before King worked for the federal Education Department, he was New York’s top state education official.

Arne Duncan grew up in Chicago and is a former head of Chicago Public Schools.

The Obama administration has adjudicated anti-LGBT bullying in schools based on this principle. “The government is actually very adept at collecting”.

Duncan did have critics and he did not always handle the criticism as professionally as he did education reform.

He becomes commissioner at a time when the federal education department’s role is in flux. Many districts had to return millions in federal funds for not meeting the requirement that they get union buy-in for teacher evaluations. The moves came after the White House set up a task force on campus rape, and after student activists protested and called for greater transparency.

Duncan championed several measures to widen access to college for disadvantaged students.

The idea proved to be hugely hard and controversial, with much of the higher education establishment opposing it, saying they feared being unfairly judged. Instead, the Department of Education would make these loans directly.