The son of a schoolteacher and principal, this former federal education secretary and onetime university president will be shepherding a bill he's been working on for seven years: a rewrite of the contentious No Child Left Behind law. [...] it's perhaps the most consequential shot Alexander will have at a lifelong effort to loosen the federal government's grip on public schools. For the 75-year-old Alexander, the bill's success would punctuate a legislative career fueled by pragmatism and the drive for results, a sharp contrast to new GOP colleagues such as Sens. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., holds up the product of Alexander's negotiations with his Democratic co-sponsor, Sen.