Show IN THE NATION More Operation Less Ideology Under Spellings Michael Dobbs The Washington Post PostIn PostIn PostIn In her four months as education secretary secretary secretary sec sec- Margaret Spellings has made it clear that her top priority is to fix problems with the No Child Left Behind Act the Bush administrations administration's landmark education initiative To defuse opposition to the legislation she's relying heavily on a group of minded like-minded aides several of whom worked with her in Texas where she was a senior policy adviser to thenn then- then n joy jov jeorge W. W w w. Hush Education experts view Spellings's inner circle as somewhat less ideological ical and more operational than the group that surrounded her predecessor sor Roderick Paige It is also more empowered to make decisions Under Paige educators and department officials officials officials alike frequently complained that real power lay with the White House and particularly with Spell Spellings then the presidents president's point person on education In recent interviews key members of the Spellings team said they're attempting to streamline operations atthe at atthe atthe the Education Department which employs people nationwide and oversees an annual budget of 55 bil bil- lion They're also trying to clear up some of the controversies left over from the Paige era including the payment payment payment pay pay- ment of to a columnist to promote No Child Left Behind which requires every public school student inthe in inthe inthe the country to be proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014 Lampkin moved to the Education Department in 2003 from the Commerce Department to run the communications and outreach office Department spokeswoman Susan Aspey knocked down speculation that Lampkin Lampkin played a role in the contro- contro contro j iL rs Ty fe ec m j oo l hire t di K t 1 public relations l i firm film to rate jo journalists journalists' f for of i their coverage of No Child Left Lef Behind She said Lampkin was not involved in the Ketchum contract and saw very little of its product |