Margaret Spellings

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings formed a task force to recommend new rules for the $85-billion student-loan industry as investigators probe allegedly deceptive practices by colleges and lenders. The task force will examine the way that colleges recommend lenders to students and parents and review access to the department's student-loan database on concerns that it was being misused for marketing.

In search of a local success story, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings visited Noble Avenue Elementary in North Hills during a quick trip to Los Angeles on Monday. Some 51% of its students take advantage of free tutoring established through the federal No Child Left Behind Act. That's one of the top participation rates in the Los Angeles Unified School District. But tutoring services are offered only at schools that are flunking federal standards under the 5-year-old federal law.

The Senate celebrated President Bush's inauguration Thursday by confirming two new members of his Cabinet, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Senators plan to confirm Carlos M. Gutierrez as Commerce secretary on Monday and Condoleezza Rice as secretary of State on Wednesday, congressional leaders said. Spellings and Johanns were confirmed on a voice vote several hours after Bush took the oath of office.

The nation's new Education secretary denounced the Public Broadcasting Service on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles. The not-yet-aired episode of "Postcards From Buster" shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont -- a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions.

A number of local public TV stations may run an episode of the animated series "Postcards From Buster" featuring a real family headed by a lesbian couple despite a decision by PBS not to distribute the program. PBS said its unusual decision to drop the episode was made independently, not because of pressure from the U.S. Department of Education's new secretary, Margaret Spellings.

I agree that California and our nation as a whole have a tremendous problem with high school dropouts, particularly in the black and Hispanic communities (L.A. Schools' Silent Scandal, editorial, March 25). Fortunately, there is something being done to address this crisis. Under the No Child Left Behind law, schools and districts are held accountable for graduation rates, and schools can no longer allow a dropout to be counted as a transfer. Poorly performing students can no longer be nudged out of the system in a misguided effort to raise school averages on tests.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, in an effort to quiet a rebellion over federal education policy, announced Thursday that states with strong accountability systems already in place would be given greater flexibility in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act. "It is results that truly matter, not the bureaucratic way you get there," Spellings said at a meeting with state education chiefs at George Washington's estate, Mount Vernon, just south of Washington.

Margaret Spellings has brought a refreshing approach to the job of U.S. Education secretary. Although predecessor Rod Paige exhibited an unrelenting adherence to the bureaucratic minutiae of the No Child Left Behind Act, Spellings has outlined an approach to school reform that focuses on the important matters: Are kids learning better? Are disadvantaged children catching up? States that do a good job in these areas can expect flexibility on the details, Spellings said.

President Bush will nominate Margaret Spellings, his chief domestic policy advisor, as secretary of Education today -- making her the third top White House staff member selected to lead a key agency in his second term -- senior administration officials said Tuesday. Spellings, who would succeed Rod Paige, has advised Bush on education matters since he was governor of Texas.

President Bush continued to reward his closest and most loyal advisors with top jobs Wednesday, naming Deputy Chief of Staff Harriet Miers -- a Texas lawyer who once was his personal attorney -- to be White House counsel. Miers, 59, will replace Alberto R. Gonzales, whom the president has nominated as attorney general. The White House counsel serves as in-house lawyer to the president, and does not require Senate confirmation.