The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm John King Jr. as the new secretary of education. King had been serving as acting secretary since Arne Duncan stepped down at the end of last year. Despite refusing even to consider any Supreme Court nominee, some Senate Republicans voted to confirm King, saying they wanted a secretary who was accountable to the Senate. King previously served as New York state’s education commissioner, where he came under criticism for advocating high-stakes standardized testing linked to teacher evaluations, policies that sparked a historic statewide testing boycott.