(From Congressional Quarterly, December 15, 2008)
By LYDIA GENSHEIMER
President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Chicago public schools chief executive Arne Duncan to be Education secretary, sources said Monday.
The announcement was expected Tuesday at an 11:45 a.m. EST news conference at a Chicago elementary school.
“President-elect Barack Obama made an excellent choice in selecting Arne Duncan to be secretary of Education,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., said. Kennedy is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will hold hearings on Duncan’s nomination in advance of a Senate confirmation vote.
“Arne has been a pragmatic and effective leader of Chicago’s schools. He’s brought people together to address difficult challenges and expand opportunities so that every child can succeed,” Kennedy said. His panel has not yet scheduled confirmation hearings.
Duncan, head of the Chicago school system since 2001, is generally well-regarded in the education community, and he has won praise for an emphasis on teacher quality and focus on graduation rates. Duncan favors keeping, but significantly revising, President Bush’s 2001 No Child Left Behind law (PL 107-110).
He won praise from Democrats for Education Reform, a New York-based political action committee, which endorsed Duncan for the post.
“Duncan has credibility with various factions in the education policy debate and would allow President Obama to avoid publicly choosing sides in that debate in his most high-profile education nomination,” the memo read.
Duncan, co-captain of the Harvard basketball team who also played professional basketball in Australia, occasionally plays basketball with the president-elect.
Duncan sparked speculation that he was Obama’s choice for education secretary when he had coffee with current secretary Margaret Spellings in early December. Spellings later said she thought Duncan would be a “great choice.”