Was Poughkeepsie The Beginning Of The End For NYSED Commissioner John King?

Poughkeepsie may have been the first ring of the death knell for King's career here in New York.

It was after Poughkeepsie that Regents Chancellor Tisch had to babysit him in future town halls and Governor Cuomo threw him under the bus when he criticized the NYSED implementation of Common Core that had so many parents, students and teachers around the state up in arms.

The "Dr" Ted Morris fiasco late last month, when it was revealed that King's NYSED gave a charter school to a con man who had lied about his credentials and work experience, may have been the last straw for King.

Regents Chancellor Tisch washed her hands of the mess and blamed SED fornot properly vetting "Dr" Ted and his false credentials.

There should be no tears for King, of course - he's failing upwards to the Obama administration where he and Arne Duncan will do their best to enshrine the Obama education reforms for the next decade despite an incoming GOP House and Senate hostile to that agenda.

After that, he'll cash in as a consultant for Gates, Broad, the Waltons or some other ed deform oligarch - maybe he'll even join Joel Klein at Rupert Murdoch's for profit education wing of News Corporation.

But make no mistake, King is being pushed out at NYSED, perhaps by Governor Cuomo alone, perhaps by Governor Cuomo, Regents Chancellor Tisch and Assembly Speaker Silver together.

It was first reported that he would be named deputy secretary to Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, but fearing a Senate confirmation battle, King will not be granted that title in the Obama administration.

He will instead be given the title "senior adviser" to Duncan, a job that does not entail confirmation.

It is possible it's just an accident that King is getting a title that skirts confirmation and accountability to the masses, but it's probably not.

Just as King saw himself above it all here in New York, he will be above it all in D.C. too.

No accountability for the Accountability Man.

In the end, his refusal to be accountable as NYSED Commissioner may have been the last straw for the people in power here.

They don't want to be held accountable any more than King does, but after a string of high profile screw-ups like the Common Core Core rollout Cuomo criticized, the Poughkeepsie meltdown and the "Dr" Ted charter school fiasco, sometimes somebody has to be the scapegoat.

King was low man on the power pole - so out he went.

Still, as I wrote about above, weep not for John King.

Say what you will about the education reform movement, but they always take care of their own.

Thus the gig at the Obama US Department of Education.