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On January 20, 2005, the United States Senate confirmed Margaret Spellings as the 8th U.S. Secretary of Education.
During President George W. Bush's first term, Spellings served as Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy where she helped craft education policies, including the No Child Left Behind Act. She was also responsible for the development and implementation of White House policy on health, labor, transportation, justice, housing, and other elements of President Bush's domestic agenda.
Prior to her White House appointment, Spellings worked for six years as Governor George W. Bush's Senior Advisor with responsibility for developing and implementing the Governor's education policy. Her work included the Texas Reading Initiative, the Student Success Initiative to eliminate social promotion, and the nation's strongest school assessment and accountability system. She also made recommendations to the Governor for key gubernatorial appointments. Previously, Spellings served as associate executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards.
Born in Michigan in 1957, Spellings moved with her family at a young age to Houston, Texas, where she attended public schools. She graduated from the University of Houston in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in political science.
As the mother of two daughters, one school-age and one college-age, Spellings has a special understanding of the issues facing parents and students today. Her daughter Mary, age 18, will be attending college in the fall, and her daughter Grace, age 13, attends a public middle school. Spellings is the first mother of school children to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education.
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David Dunn is the Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. In this position, he continues a career devoted to improving accountability and raising standards in America's schools.
Prior to coming to the U.S. Department of Education, Mr. Dunn was Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and served staff to the White House Domestic Policy Council since August 2002. His portfolio of issues included all areas of education policy, from early childhood through higher education.
Before joining the Domestic Policy Council, Mr. Dunn was the Associate Executive Director of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) where he acted as the association's chief lobbyist. Mr. Dunn was also the association expert on school finance and school accountability. Prior to his work at TASB, Dunn spent fifteen years in education and fiscal policy analysis for the State of Texas. He acted as lead staff for an education policy center that developed the blueprint for Texas' School Accountability System in the early '90's.
Mr. Dunn has an MA in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Political Science from Baylor University. Mr. Dunn currently resides in Washington D.C. with his wife, Renee.
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Philip Link is the director of the U.S. Department of Education's executive secretariat. His appointment was announced on May 19, 1993.
In his position, Link oversees a staff of 21 who process more than 6,000 letters, regulatory documents, and policy papers addressed to the Secretary each month. Prior to his current appointment, he was deputy director of the executive secretariat.
From 1984 to 1989, Link was a senior policy analyst in the Office of the Under Secretary/Deputy Secretary, and from 1989 to 1992, he was executive administrator of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services.
Link was an honors graduate in government from Harvard College in 1972, and he received a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 1977.
Link is married and has one son.
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