Name: John King, Former U.S. Secretary of Education, Announces Gubernatorial Bid - Maryland Matters
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John King, Former U.S. Secretary of Education, Announces Gubernatorial Bid - Maryland Matters

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John B. King Jr. (D), the former U.S. secretary of Education under President Obama, announced his 2022 gubernatorial bid Tuesday.Education will be one of King’s foremost talking points on the campaign trail, and he touted his lengthy resume as an educator in his announcement.King started his career as a teacher and school administrator, and later became New York State’s commissioner of education before joining the Obama administration.His features audio of President Obama introducing him at a previous event – though not for his campaign for governor. The video also features a still photograph of King with the former president.“My life is proof of the positive difference that public institutions can make in people’s lives,” King said in the announcement. “I lost both my parents as a child, my mom when I was 8 and my dad when I was 12. Public schools and inspiring public school teachers saved my life. Even when I struggled as a teenager and got kicked out of high school, it was teachers and a school counselor that gave me a second chance. I am running for governor of Maryland because we can’t afford to rely on chance for more Marylanders to have the opportunity to succeed.”King, 46, has headed The Education Trust – a Washington D.C.-based organization focuses on closing the achievement gap for students of color – since his tenure as secretary of Education ended in 2017.He’s more recently weighed in on a slew of state-level policy issues by forming the progressive advocacy group last year. That group pushed for a variety of reforms during the Maryland General Assembly’s 2021 legislative session, including criminal justice reform and environmental justice efforts.King’s Tuesday release noted Strong Future Maryland’s broad activism, but repeatedly underscored his work in education. He previously that building up early childhood education, ramping up health and mental health services in public schools and partnering with Maryland’s Historically Black colleges and universities should be the state’s top priorities going forward.King’s announcement video features testimonials from a handful of his former students.“Maybe it’s time for a teacher as governor,” one of them says.“We need a teacher as governor,” says another.“The great thing about a teacher as governor is that teachers know we have to start by listening to our students, by seeing our students as whole people,” King says in the video. “That’s how a governor should think.”For King, the sweeping Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reforms are just the first of many steps needed to improve education in the state.“I would argue that we have to see the Blueprint as the floor, not the ceiling,” King told the women’s Democratic club in March. “We’ve got to continually be asking what we can be doing to build on the Blueprint.”The timing of King’s announcement – April 20, the same day Harriet Tubman is believed to have begun her work with the Underground Railroad in Maryland – was deliberate. King’s Silver Spring residence is roughly 25 miles from where his own great-grandfather and his family were enslaved in Gaithersburg.“My ancestors could not have imagined that I would be where I am today,” King said. “I am living because they survived. I am running for them and to make good on the promise of a better future for Marylanders for generations to come.”In announcing his candidacy, King joins a growing Democratic field of 2022 gubernatorial candidates: Comptroller , former Prince George’s County Executive and , another former Obama administration official, have also announced bids. Several other Democrats have for potential runs.Bennett Leckrone is a December 2019 graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. He has interned at The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Columbus Dispatch, PennLive.com, The Dayton Daily News and The Troy Daily News. Leckrone is a Report for America corps member.Visit the SUBSCRIBE page to sign up for our morning newsletter.|Maryland’s candidates for governor made their closing arguments Monday, one day before the state’s long-anticipated and once-delayed statewide primary. But because hundreds of thousands…Democrat Wes Moore led gubernatorial candidates in fundraising during the waning weeks of the 2022 campaign. Between June 8 and July 3, Moore and…Climate change policy continues to be a potent selling point for the Democrats running for governor.Thank you for supporting our nonprofit newsroom.

John B. King Jr. (D), the former U.S. secretary of Education under President Obama, announced his 2022 gubernatorial bid Tuesday.Education will be one of King’s foremost talking points on the campaign trail, and he touted his lengthy resume as an educator in his announcement.King started his career as a teacher and school administrator, and later became New York State’s commissioner of education before joining the Obama administration.His features audio of President Obama introducing him at a previous event – though not for his campaign for governor. The video also features a still...

John King, Former U.S. Secretary of Education, Announces Gubernatorial Bid - Maryland Matters

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