When Arne Duncan was the head of the Chicago public schools, one of the calls he dreaded most came from a certain federal bureaucracy — the Department of Education.
“It wasn’t a call about teaching kids to read,” Duncan recalled. “It was a call about a compliance report or something.”
Now Duncan sits atop the Education Department — meaning he’s the one making those calls to school systems across the country, hoping to reshape education and the role of the federal government in what traditionally has been a state and local effort.
With nearly $5 billion in stimulus funds at his disposal, Duncan has the chance to be a sort of educational kingmaker, doling out money to states as he sees fit. He’s also got something intangible but just as important — a close friend in the White House, in President Barack Obama.
And that’s a combination that some are saying could end up making Duncan the most powerful education secretary in the history of the job.