Spellings Would Bring Acumen, Pragmatism to Secretary’s Position

For the past four years, Margaret Spellings has occupied one of the most coveted corner offices in the West Wing.

The 46-year-old from Houston whom President Bush has tapped to be the next secretary of education, has prime White House real estate just an office away from political mastermind Karl Rove and just upstairs from the Oval Office.

But Ms. Spellings, who for more than a decade has been George W. Bush’s most trusted aide on education and has spent his first presidential term as his chief domestic-policy adviser, has deliberately kept her...