Education Secretary Duncan Stepping Down, Returning To Chicago
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addresses media at the U of I on Wednesday, September 16. Hannah Meisel/Illinois Public Media
President Barack Obama is reluctantly accepting the resignation of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, saying he's earned the right to return home as one of the longest-serving secretaries in the department's history.
Obama is tapping Education Department official John King Jr. as acting secretary through the end of his term. But Obama is not nominating King to be secretary.
Obama says Duncan oversaw several improvements in the nation's schools, including greater investment by states in early childhood education and high school graduation rates that are at an all-time high.
Duncan is one of Obama's longest-serving Cabinet members and among the few who formed a close personal relationship with the president.
He is a firm supporter of federal standardized testing, but he also granted numerous waivers to states exempting them from some federal requirements.
King is currently serving as delegated deputy secretary. He oversees preschool through high school education and manages the department's operations.
Obama plans to discuss the change in leadership Friday afternoon at the White House.
Duncan, the former Chicago Public Schools chief, was recently on the University of Illnois' Urbana campus, criticizing the state's school funding formula.
"Disparities in funding in Illinois are immoral, they are a disaster and the children of the state deserve so much better," Duncan said on September 16. "So, I know politics is hard and complicated but I hope the governor and state legislature and much more equitably fund public education in this state."
Duncan was on a "Back to School" bus tour throughout the Midwest.