WASHINGTON -- Education Secretary Terrel Bell told his staff today he is is resigning, effective Dec. 31, a department source said, making him the first Cabinet member to decline to serve in President Reagan's second term.
The source said Bell, who will be 63 Sunday, advised his senior staff that he is stepping down for personal reasons and will return to his home state of Utah.
Bell came to Washington in 1981 with Reagan vowing to abolish the agency, but he actually strengthened the department by triggering an unprecedented campaign to upgrade America's schools.
Bell is now expected to return to the classroom and accept a longstanding offer to become a professor in the education department of the University of Utah.
The secretary called a news conference for later today.
His resignation was first reported early today by the National Center for Education Information, a private research organization, and confirmed by administration sources.
Bell came to Washington in 1981 with Reagan vowing to abolish the agency, but he actually strengthened the department by triggering an unprecedented campaign to upgrade America's schools.
A 1983 report by his National Commission on Excellence in Education, 'A Nation at Risk,' fueled the crusade that has seen states return to the basics, upgrade high school graduation requirements and move to raise teacher pay.
While Bell has battled the Office of Management and Budget on attempts to cut education funding, agency officials speculated he merely grew tired of the job and wanted to return home, feeling satisfied he made a contribution.
For more than a year, there have been rumors within the agency and education community that Bell would leave the department after Reagan's first term, regardless if the president was re-elected.
Bell's decision to announce he will step down comes just two days after Reagan's landslide re-election over Democrat Walter Mondale.
On Wednesday, White House chief of staff James Baker, when asked by reporters if he expected any immediate changes in the Cabinet, said, 'my answer is no.'
'I think the president has said that he doesn't want to break up a winning team. I think most of the people want to stay,' Baker added. 'Now you may find some will come out of the woodwork and say they want to go on to the private sector, but I'm not aware of any.'
William Bennett, chairman of the federal National Endowment for the Humanities, is seen as among his likely successors.
When Reagan named Bell as the final member of his Cabinet four years ago, the president planned to implement a campaign pledge to eliminate the agency created by his predecessor, Jimmy Carter.
Bell, the only non-millionaire on Reagan's cabinet, came to town driving a U-Haul truck. He said he expected to work himself out of a job within a year and go back to Utah, where he served as the state's Commissioner of Education.
However, Bell's efforts to upgrade America's schools took priority and focused an unprecedented amount of public attention on the growing problems of education in America.
Last year, Bell's National Commission on Excellence in Education found schools engulfed by a 'rising tide of mediocrity.' The landmark report initiated what a followup study called 'a tidal wave of reform.'
The National Center for Education Information is reportingBell's resignation in next week's issue of its Department of Education Weekly, a private newsletter.
