Congress vows to give Education secretary nominee 'swift' hearing

Lawmakers say they will give speedy consideration to President Barack Obama’s nomination of John B. King Jr. as secretary of the Department of Education, rather than keeping him as interim secretary until the end of Obama’s time in office.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the panel with jurisdiction over education, said King will receive a “prompt and fair hearing in our committee.” Alexander had urged the White House to nominate a new secretary, saying it wasn’t appropriate to go a whole year without a leader officially in place.

Congress wants to see the nation’s new education law, an overhaul of No Child Left Behind, implemented as soon as possible, after passing it with strong bipartisan support last year.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan resigned at the end of December, and Obama nominated King earlier this month.

But a probe by lawmakers on the House Government and Oversight Committee against the Education Department’s chief information officer could cause problems for King, who was called to testify on the issue this month.

The committee questioned Danny Harris, the department’s CIO, over failing to report about $10,000 in income from a side business installing home theaters and detailing cars, making a $4,000 loan to a subordinate, and allegedly helping a relative get a job at the department, according to the department’s inspector general. Harris collapsed after the hearing ended and was taken to a hospital.

In his testimony, King said Harris’ actions showed “a serious lack of judgment,” but didn’t warrant firing because Harris had gone to counseling and corrected his behavior. The department found no violation of law, regulation, or policy, King noted. In written testimony, Harris said he inquired about open positions but didn’t help a relative get a job at the department. He also said he refiled his tax forms.

But at least one representative from each party was dissatisfied with King’s answers.

“It’s your leadership that’s on the line. Is it appropriate to have outside income and not report it?” committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked.

Democrat Stacey Plaskett, the House delegate from the Virgin Islands, suggested Harris should have suffered some punishment.

“Where’s the stick as opposed to just the pat?” she asked. “How do people know that they can’t be involved in this behavior? That’s just a way to keep your job.”

Before becoming acting education secretary last year, King oversaw federal education programs for preschool through 12th grade. He worked as a teacher and principal prior to joining the department. He also co-founded a charter school that became one of the highest performing urban middle schools in Massachusetts. He served as New York State’s education commissioner between 2011 and 2014, overseeing elementary and secondary schools, as well as the state’s public colleges and universities. He was the first person of African and Latino descent to hold that job.

But his tenure in New York wasn’t without controversy. While there, he oversaw a “rocky rollout of both the Common Core academic standards in math and reading as well as a teacher evaluation system tied to new tests based on those standards,” according to an article last week in The Washington Post. More than a third of principals in the state—along with thousands of parents, teachers and administrators—signed a letter protesting the new system, the article said.

In his own life, King credits public school teachers in New York City with giving him hope and purpose after his parents died when he was young, a gratitude Obama noted in announcing King’s nomination.

“John knows from his own incredible life experience how education can transform a child’s future,” the president said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.