Secretary of Education to visit Wright-Patterson AFB Published Sept. 19, 2007 By Rachel Castle 88 ABW Public Affairs WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secretary of Education, will visit Wright-Patterson Thursday as part of a No Child Left Behind bus tour through the Midwest. Engaging administrators, teachers, parents and students, Secretary Spellings will underscore the importance of preserving NCLB's core principles as lawmakers pave the way for reauthorization this year. From the banks of Lake Erie to the crossroads of America, Spellings' bus tour will tout progress made by America's schools and students under NCLB. Secretary Spellings will deliver the message that the law is empowering parents and empowering students by infusing accountability into education - and that No Child Left Behind is working on behalf of our nation's children. Thursday's base visit will highlight military children and education. Secretary Spellings will meet with military families and tour the STARBASE program, a national Department of Defense initiative to heighten at-risk 5th graders' interest in science and technology. After blasting off water rockets with STARBASE students, Secretary Spellings will participate in the national Jump Start Read for the Record campaign by joining with Americans across the country and reading to a group of preschool children from the Military and Family Child Care Center at Wright-Patterson. Casey Ruberg at the U.S. Department of Education also contributed to this article.