Sen. Orrin Hatch asked Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to reschedule her Friday visit to Salt Lake City because he won't be able to join her. So expect Utah legislators to approve a bill in next week's special session challenging Bush's pet education initiative, No Child Left Behind.

"It's clear that the bill is going to pass at this point, so timing [of Spellings' visit] is not an issue in that regard," Hatch said Wednesday via e-mail. "It's also clear, though, that Secretary Spellings is very eager to come to our state and listen to the concerns we Utahns have about the federal role in our education system. We had hoped to arrange that visit for this week but, for scheduling reasons, we just couldn't work it out."

Utah's senior senator has to stay in Washington because he anticipates votes on disaster relief for flood victims in Washington County at week's end, spokesman Adam Elggren said.

Lawmakers say Spellings' absence will have no bearing on whether they adopt the anti-NCLB measure.

"At this point, we just pass what we were going to pass during the [general] session, which means we should have passed it back in February or March," said House Majority Whip Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George.

The measure - House Bill 135, as it was known during the general session - would give Utah school officials authority to buck NCLB provisions that conflict with state education goals or require state funding.

The House passed the measure unanimously during the general session, but Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. asked the Senate not to take a final vote because he wanted more time to negotiate with Washington.

Despite new flexibility announced by Spellings last week, Utah GOP legislators are growing increasingly frustrated with who has - and hasn't - been a party to those negotiations.

They allege that Huntsman's education deputy, Tim Bridgewater, has snubbed HB135-sponsoring Rep. Margaret Dayton by excluding her from discussions with the feds.

"This has been handled poorly," Urquhart said. "We're a week away from the special session and the House sponsor of this bill, who's been leading this charge for well over a year, is being shut out of the process? That's wrong."

Bridgewater did not return a phone call and Huntsman Chief of Staff Jason Chaffetz could not be reached for comment.

Urquhart posted a Web blog Wednesday attacking Bridgewater's representation of Utah in those discussions, calling him a "politically clueless" appointee who "knows less about public education than the average guy walking down the street."

"If Gov. Huntsman wants to retain the good relationship he started with the Legislature in his first few months in office," Urquhart wrote, "he needs to send Tim back to the temp service and bring on a full-time deputy who understands Utah's education system and who is more interested in representing the clear position held by all education interests in the state than in shilling for a federal appointment."

rlynn@sltrib.com