Bush
places Spellings in education post
Thursday, November 18, 2004 • BY BEN FELLER
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday named White House
domestic policy adviser Margaret Spellings to be the
nation's eighth education secretary.
"The issue of education is close to my heart, and on
this vital issue there's no one I trust more than Margaret
Spellings," Bush told her.
If confirmed by the Senate, Spellings would replace
departing secretary Rod Paige in the Cabinet-level job of
overseeing the Education Department. Spellings, who was
joined in the Roosevelt Room of the White House with her two
daughters, became emotional as she accepted the post.
"I am a product of our public schools," she said as her
voice started to crack. "I believe in America's schools,
what they mean to each child, to each future president or
future domestic policy adviser and to the strength of our
great country."
To the president, Spellings delivers exactly what he
expects from schools: results.
"We must ensure that a high school diploma is a sign of
real achievement so that our young people have the tools to
go to college and to fill the jobs of the 21st century,"
Bush said. "In all our reforms, we will continue to stand
behind our nation's teachers who work so hard for our
children."
As Bush's domestic policy adviser, Spellings has helped
shape the news while staying out of it herself. Karl Rove,
the president's political strategist, was quoted this fall
as saying Spellings is "the most influential woman in
Washington that you've never heard of."
Spellings worked for six years as Bush's education
adviser in Texas, pushing policies on early reading and
student accountability. They became the model for the
federal law, No Child Left Behind, that Spellings helped put
together from the White House after Bush's election in
2000.
"She understands what he thinks. They're very, very
close," said Sandy Kress, a lawyer who worked at the White
House for Spellings when he was Bush's senior education
adviser.
Spellings has overseen a range of domestic policy, from
justice to housing, but education is an issue of deep
interest. In an online White House public forum, Spellings
said she's been thrilled to take questions about the new
law: "I love talking about education."
Spellings, 46, will take over leadership of the
Education Department at a critical time. Many lawmakers,
teachers and parents are frustrated by No Child Left Behind,
which gives more attention to poor and minority kids but
penalizes some low-income schools that fall short.
Paige, 71, also had a broken relationship with the
National Education Association, the largest teachers union
in the country. He once referred to the NEA as a "terrorist
organization."
"This is a great opportunity for the administration to
change the tone of its discourse with the education
community, particularly the 2.7 million members of the
National Education Association who are in schools all over
this nation," said NEA president Reg Weaver. "We look
forward to finding common ground with Ms. Spellings in her
new role."
Kress has known Spellings since she was a lobbyist for
the Texas Association of School Boards in the early 1990s.
He called her practical, willing to take a partial victory,
then come back and fight again for the rest of the win.
"She's conservative, but she'll listen to teachers,
she'll listen to administrators," Kress said. "She wants to
change the system, but she wants to talk to people in the
system."
The ranking Democrat on the Senate education committee,
Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, said Tuesday that
Spellings is "a capable, principled leader who has the ear
of the president and has earned strong, bipartisan respect
in Congress."
© 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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