The Senate confirmed on Monday that John B. King Jr. will serve as the nation's education secretary. His nomination got an approval with a vote of 16-6 last month.
Since Arne Duncan stepped down on being the country's education secretary, John King was appointed to replace him and now, the Senate had just stripped the "acting" in his title. According to US News, the vote was 49-40 to appoint acting secretary John King into Secretary of the Education Department. As the nation's secretary, he's going to look out for the bipartisan education law signed by President Barack Obama in December that constitutes the No Child Left Behind Act and will limit the power of government in public schools.
Obama has nominated John King last month, as written by Detroit News. Obama said "King will continue to lead our efforts to work toward high-quality preschool for all, prepare our kids for college and a career, make college more affordable, and protect Americans from the burdens of student debt," placing high hopes to the newly secretary.
Prior to his new assignment, King was a notable New York state education commissioner who has also served as an administrator and teacher at numerous public and charter schools. King said that he's crediting the public school teachers as they saved his life when he was orphaned at a young age.
However, King's new role in the administration didn't get quite a cheer from some state, according to the Wall Street Journal. In New York, King's support of the Common Core standards and usage of state test scores as teacher evaluations made him an enemy of teachers and parents. Also, a number of letters went to the lawmakers expressing discouragement on this confirmation. Heritage Action for America also opposed to King's nomination.
Nonetheless, King's confirmation has been uplifted by Senator Lamar Alexander as he urged his colleagues to approve him for the post. Senator Patty Murray also supprted the decision, saying King's passion for the nation's young people is unquestionable.
