WASHINGTON (AP) — Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he's increasingly worried that deep spending cuts will take effect on March 1, hurting the nation's students and teachers.

Duncan told reporters Thursday, quote, "no one in their right mind would say this is good for kids or good for the country."

He says no one would have designed the automatic budget cuts, known as sequester, on purpose. Duncan says those automatic cuts were designed to be so unpleasant that lawmakers would reach a compromise to dodge them.

But with time ticking down, Duncan says it's more and more likely the cuts will kick in. Duncan calls the budget fight, quote, "the height of dysfunction in Congress" and warns he cannot mitigate the cuts if they take hold.