ALBANY, N.Y. Feb. 12, 2016 - "At a time when we are finally moving away from the disastrous era of test-and-punish, action to make John King’s interim appointment as U.S. Secretary of Education permanent is extremely troubling and sends the wrong signal to educators and parents nationwide. During his tenure as New York’s education commissioner, the joy of teaching and learning was eroded by a wave of misguided top-down policies that focused on overuse of testing and punitive measures exacted upon teachers. New York State is only just beginning to recover from the destructive policies of John King, who was subject to an unprecedented vote of no confidence delivered by delegates of the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers."
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.