Vitter Votes Against Education Secretary Nominee with History of Supporting Common Core

Press Release

U.S. Senator David Vitter (R-La.) today voted against the confirmation of John King, Acting Secretary of Education at the U.S. Department of Education (ED), to be Secretary of Education, citing concerns over King's support of Common Core while serving as Commissioner of Education for the State of New York.

"Empowering parents, teachers, and local education leaders to make decisions regarding students' education needs to be the top priority. Mr. King is an unwavering advocate for Common Core, and he has a long track record of supporting nationalized education standards," said Vitter. "While I continue working to pass real reform in our nation's broken and over-federalized education system, it's crucial that our nation's next top education official be committed to returning educational decision-making and use of taxpayer dollars to those closest to the students -- and that's certainly not the federal government."

Beginning in January 2015, King served as ED's Principal Senior Advisor, where he fulfilled the duties and responsibilities of the Deputy Secretary of Education under former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Duncan received opposition from parents and teachers for his push for nationwide adoption of the Common Core State Standards as well as his denial of Race to the Top funding to states who did not adopt the controversial standards. King was appointed as Acting Secretary in January 2016, following the resignation of Duncan in October 2015.

From 2011 to 2014 King served as Commissioner of Education for the State of New York, where he was an advocate of the Common Core State Standards. When the opposition to Common Core escalated, King canceled town hall meetings, limited comment time for parents and educators, and called concerned protesters "brainwashed." Under his leadership, the State of New York saw 20% (200,000) of students opt-out of taking the Common Core-aligned assessments in 2015, the largest opt-out movement in the country.

Vitter has been a vocal advocate for strong, commonsense education standards and creating educational opportunities for students of all educational and economic backgrounds. In 2015, Vitter secured inclusion of his bill, Local Control of Education Act, in Congress' passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, in December 2015. Vitter's legislation prohibits the federal government from mandating, incentivizing, or coercing states to adopt specific academic standards, including the Common Core standards, curriculum or assessments.

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