State Education Commissioner John King is abdicating his post to become a senior aide to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

“New York’s loss is the country’s gain. He’ll be a powerful force for educational opportunity in Washington,” state Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said Wednesday in announcing the move.

King, who became the state education chief in May 2011 at age 36, is scheduled to leave at year’s end.

The Chalkbeat website reported that the news caught his staff by surprise and that an announcement had initially been planned for the Board of Regents meeting next Monday.

King’s support of charter schools, tougher Common Core standards and teacher evaluations that use test scores made him something of a hero to education reformers.

Tisch will convene a search committee next week to help select King’s successor.