As Obama Panel Studies Education Dept., Search for Secretary Continues

One month after the election, neither President-elect Barack Obama nor his transition team had given any serious indication about who might be the next U.S. secretary of education.

Even before the election, observers said Arne Duncan, the chief executive officer of the Chicago public schools, would be an obvious candidate to take the job in an Obama administration, given his work over the past seven years as the top public school official in Mr. Obama’s hometown and his personal relationship with the president-elect.

Mr. Duncan met with Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in Washington last week. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Ms. Spellings’ planned visit to Chicago on Dec. 11, according to sources familiar with the meeting. But the sight of Mr. Duncan entering the Department of Education fanned speculation in what is...