CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on resignation of Margaret Spellings as president of University of North Carolina (all times local):
1 p.m.
A former U.S. education secretary who is resigning as head of North Carolina's public universities is getting more than $500,000 as she leaves.
Margaret Spellings resigned Friday as president of the University of North Carolina and made clear it was her decision to quit midway through her five-year contract. Her resignation takes effect in March 2019.
An agreement approved by the university system's governing board on Friday allows Spellings to keep collecting her salary that pays her $775,000 a year until she exits and gets $500,000. She'll also get $35,000 in moving expenses.
She came to North Carolina after running the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. Spellings was Bush's education secretary from 2005 to 2009 and oversaw the initial implementation of the No Child Left Behind federal education law.
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12: 10 p.m.
A former U.S. education secretary who headed North Carolina's public universities is resigning.
Margaret Spellings resigned Friday as president of the University of North Carolina at what was described as an emergency session of the governing board.
Her resignation takes effect in March 2019.
The former education secretary for President George W. Bush took over as head of the 17-campus university system in March 2016.
Some power brokers in the Republican-dominated state legislature saw her national reputation as allowing her too much independence.
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North Carolina's public university board is holding an emergency session amid news reports that Margaret Spellings is leaving as president of the state's 17-campus system.
In a statement, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors said it would hold an emergency session Friday morning to "consider an executive personnel matter."
A spokesman for Spellings, the former U.S. education secretary, did not respond to calls, emails or text messages Thursday.
Spellings is halfway through the five-year contract she started in March 2016.
The former member of President George W. Bush's cabinet was selected after the Republican-majority North Carolina university board forced out her predecessor, who got the job under Democratic control.
Some power brokers in the Republican-dominated state legislature saw her national reputation as giving her too much independence.
