Update: NYS Teachers' Union Slams Decision to Appoint John King Ed Secretary

Updated at 3:51 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, 2015: Before President Obama officially introduced John King Jr. as the nation’s new Secretary of Education, an old adversary was speaking out against the appointment.

The New York State Unified Teachers union issued a scathing comment on King, who the union issued a “no confidence” vote against. The group urged the public to call the special White House phone line to “express their displeasure” in the naming of King to the post.

“New York State United Teachers is disappointed in John King’s appointment as acting U.S. Secretary of Education,” said the union in their statement. “NYSUT has always considered John King an ideologue with whom we disagreed sharply on many issues during his tenure as the state’s Education Department commissioner. Just last year, our members delivered a vote of no confidence against him and called for his resignation. NYSUT urges its members to call the White House switchboard at202-456-1414 — as well as a special White House telephone line dedicated to public comments at 202-456-1111 — to express their displeasure in John King’s appointment.”

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 served as the state commissioner from 2011 to 2014, when he left the post to take the deputy secretary job in Washington, DC under Duncan.

Duncan, one of President Obama’s longest tenured appointees, is leaving at the end of the year.

“We can confirm that President Obama will announce today that Education Secretary Arne Duncan intends to step down in December, and that the president has selected John B. King Jr., who currently acts as deputy secretary of education, to replace him,” a White House official told The Washington Post.

King’s tenure in New York was rocky at times, having been at the helm when the state introduced controversial teacher evaluations and the Common Core education standards. Both moves made King a bit of a target in New York, but were initiatives supported by both Obama and Duncan.

King will serve in the new role on an acting basis for the remainder of Obama’s presidency, and he will not be a formal appointee which means he will not require Congressional approval, writes the Associated Press.

Photo: John King Jr.