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Sen. Rand Paul seldom attends education committee hearings or works on the daily grind of writing letters or bills.

By Maggie Severns

4/11/15 7:36 PM EDT

Sen. Rand Paul has touted school choice in Milwaukee and Chicago and goaded former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush about the Common Core on cable news.

But hes rarely seen working on education policy in the one place he could have a direct effect: the Senate.

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Paul has sat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee since 2011 and is co-chairman of its subcommittee on children and families, but he seldom attends committee hearings or works on the daily grind of writing letters or authoring bills. Paul did not attend any of the five education hearings held by the committee this year, a POLITICO review has found.

Three of those hearings focused on rewriting the countrys hallmark education law, No Child Left Behind, which senators are striving to rewrite this year. The law steers billions of dollars in aid to high-poverty schools, governs teacher-preparation programs, addresses school choice programs and defines the federal role in encouraging academic standards, such as the Common Core.

In February, the Kentucky senator raised eyebrows when he told CNBC and others that vaccines for children should be voluntary but he was absent a week later when the committee met to discuss the subject. Paul isnt the only one on the committee with spotty attendance (though hes the only one among them running for president): Of the 22 committee members, seven had not attended any K-12 education hearings this year. Five senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and committee leaders Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) attended all four. (Fellow Republican contender Sen. Ted Cruz is not on the education committee.)

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Paul touts education issues in public, not on Hill