Spellings pushes controversial components of legislation

 U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings spent the day in Chicago Thursday, lobbying students, teachers, school officials and business leaders to support proposed changes to the five-year-old No Child Left Behind law. The law, which requires schools to test students in math and reading and holds schools accountable for the results, comes up for reauthorization this year. Spellings spent most of her time pushing the more controversial parts of the blueprint: giving vouchers for students to attend private schools, allowing districts to bypass state-imposed charter school caps, letting districts circumvent teacher contracts to transfer teachers to the worst schools. Read the article in The Chicago Tribune online.