Ed. Dept. Officials’ Roots Run Deep in Heart of Texas

Though the Department of Education is located in the heart of Washington, its corridors echo with the distinctive twang of Texas.

That accent starts at the top with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who originally hails from Houston and left Austin, the state capital, to head to Washington. And at least 10 current or recent high-ranking Education Department officials, all political appointees, call Texas their home state. Many more Texans, including first-term Secretary of Education Rod Paige, have passed through the department during President Bush’s administration, leaving their cowboy bootprints on federal education policy since 2001.

To some observers, this “Texas mafia,” in which many top officials have experience with the same state educational system, has stifled the range of education innovations given serious consideration and created a lopsided view of federal education policy. To others, it’s customary for a president—and a secretary of education—to hire people from back home...