EDUCATION SECRETARY MARGARET SPELLINGS SPEAKS WITH LA STUDENTS AT TOWN HALL

Los Angeles, CA, December 5, 2006, The Honorable Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Education, US Department of Education, converses with Town Hall Los Angeles on December 11, 2006. Spellings' appearance includes a Q&A session with audience members and an opportunity for students participating in Town Hall's American Heritage Student Program to discuss their education with the Secretary.

Responding to the recent National Center for Education Studies report on charter schools, Spellings said, "Charter schools are empowering low-income parents with new educational options and providing an important lifeline for families in areas where traditional public schools have fallen short of their responsibilities."

Prior to her current position, Spellings was Assistant to President George W. Bush for Domestic Policy, where she helped create the No Child Left Behind Act. In 2004, during her confirmation by the US Senate, Spellings said, "We must stay true to sound principles of leaving no child behind. But we in the administration must engage with those closest to the children to embed these principles in a sensible and workable way."

Throughout its history, Town Hall has convened events on education, including addresses by former Los Angeles Superintendents of Schools Dr. Alexander J. Stoddard (1949), Dr. Claude L. Reeves (1955), Jack P. Crowther (1966), and Roy Romer (2000), as well as famed educator Jaime Escalante (1990). This past July, Town Hall hosted a panel of education experts responding to the question, "How Does California Education Really Work?"

Since 1987, the American Heritage Student Program has embodied the best Town Hall has to offer, educating the next generation of citizens by hosting Los Angeles-area students at events, providing them biographical and topical articles, and encouraging these future leaders of Los Angeles to ask questions of the people who influence the course of their lives.

All members of the media are invited to cover this event.

** Please credit Town Hall Los Angeles in your coverage.?

WHEN: Monday, December 11, 2006, Noon Luncheon, 12:20 ? 1:05 PM Address and Q & A

WHERE: Omni Los Angeles Hotel, 251 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, CA? 90071 ??????

Contact: Deborah Weinberg, Director, Media Relations, 213.312.9307or [email protected].

Note to reporters and editors: The organization uses the full name: Town Hall Los Angeles. Please do not make generic as in 'town hall.'