Washington — The head of the Chicago public-school system, Arne Duncan — widely seen as a favorite to lead the Education Department in the Obama administration — met here this morning with the current education secretary, Margaret Spellings.

But, Mr. Duncan’s spokesman says, please don’t get the wrong idea.

Mr. Duncan did not schedule his meeting with Ms. Spellings to prepare for taking over her job in January, said Mike Vaughn, press secretary for the Chicago school system. Rather, Mr. Vaughn said, Mr. Duncan came to Washington for a separate meeting and then decided to visit Ms. Spellings to “talk to her about maybe coming to Chicago in the coming weeks for an announcement that we’re doing here about the Chicago public schools.”

The spokeswoman for Ms. Spellings, Samara Yudof, concurred. Mr. Duncan, while in Washington for a meeting of the board of Jobs for America’s Graduates, “stopped by her office this morning to talk about her joining him in Chicago next week for a local K-12 event,” Ms. Yudof said. “They’re friends and have worked together a lot.”

The suggestion today by the Associated Press that Mr. Duncan was visiting the Education Department so he could begin “measuring the drapes” was “way overboard,” Mr. Vaughn said.

Mr. Duncan is a personal friend of Mr. Obama, regularly playing pickup basketball with the president-elect in the Hyde Park neighborhood where they both live. He’s also been the clear leader in nearly a month of daily polls of education-policy experts, conducted by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, aimed at predicting who Mr. Obama will choose for education secretary.

The schools chief, however, is ignoring such speculation, Mr. Vaughn said. “He just said it’s the furthest thing from his mind right now,” the spokesman said. ”His focus right now is entirely on our schools here in Chicago.” —Paul Basken