Margaret Spellings was born in Houston in 1958 and earned her B.A. from the University of Houston. After serving as the associate executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards, she ran a select committee on education for Governor William P. Clements of Texas. 

Spellings then served George W. Bush in 1994 as political director in his first successful gubernatorial campaign. From 1994 to 2000, she was a senior advisor to Governor George W. Bush and oversaw education reform in Texas. In 2001, Margaret Spellings became assistant to the President for domestic policy.

In November 2004 President Bush nominated Spellings to succeed Rod Paige as Secretary of Education, and she was confirmed in early 2005.