NEW YORK --The New York State education commissioner has announced he plans to resign by June.

Commissioner Richard Mills said Saturday that he has notified the state Board of Regents of his decision.

A spokesman for Mills says the commissioner is not being forced out of the job and he doesn't intend to retire. Earlier in the week, the chairman of the Board of Regents issued a formal statement saying it wanted to keep Mills on the job.

The commissioner was appointed to his post in 1995. Before that, he had the same job for the state of Vermont.

Mills got his start as a history teacher at the prestigious Dalton School in Manhattan. He helped establish and run an alternative public high school in Manhattan in the 1970s.