Audit: Bush reading program beset by mismanagement
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| Also listed in: Progressives | The Anti-Neocon Agenda | US-ED |
An internal review of Bush's reading program says the Education Department ignored the law to steer money how it wanted.
The government audit suggests the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use.
It says review panels were stacked with people who shared the director's views, and in which only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money.
In one e-mail, the director told a staff member to come down hard on a company he didn't support, according to the report.
"They are trying to crash our party and we need to beat the (expletive) out of them in front of all the other would-be party crashers who are standing on the front lawn waiting to see how we welcome these dirtbags," the program director wrote, the report says.
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The audit found the department:
-- Botched the way it picked a panel to review grant applications, raising questions over whether grants were approved as the law requires.
-- Screened grant reviewers for conflicts of interest, but then failed to identify six who had a clear conflict based on their industry connections.
-- Did not let states see the comments of experts who reviewed their applications.
-- Required states to meet conditions that weren't part of the law.
-- Tried to downplay elements of the law it didn't like when working with states.
The report does not name Doherty, referring to him as the Reading First director.
It says he repeatedly used his influence to steer money toward states that used a reading approach he favored, called Direct Instruction, or DI. In one case, the report says, he was told a review panel was stacked with people who backed that program.
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Link
The government audit suggests the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use.
It says review panels were stacked with people who shared the director's views, and in which only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money.
In one e-mail, the director told a staff member to come down hard on a company he didn't support, according to the report.
"They are trying to crash our party and we need to beat the (expletive) out of them in front of all the other would-be party crashers who are standing on the front lawn waiting to see how we welcome these dirtbags," the program director wrote, the report says.
...
The audit found the department:
-- Botched the way it picked a panel to review grant applications, raising questions over whether grants were approved as the law requires.
-- Screened grant reviewers for conflicts of interest, but then failed to identify six who had a clear conflict based on their industry connections.
-- Did not let states see the comments of experts who reviewed their applications.
-- Required states to meet conditions that weren't part of the law.
-- Tried to downplay elements of the law it didn't like when working with states.
The report does not name Doherty, referring to him as the Reading First director.
It says he repeatedly used his influence to steer money toward states that used a reading approach he favored, called Direct Instruction, or DI. In one case, the report says, he was told a review panel was stacked with people who backed that program.
...
Link
Like Republican and good government are opposites.
Isn't that why they want to privatize everything to increase productivity and cut costs? And reduce government? Like Homeland Security swallowing up FEMA?
No. Wait that was the biggest governmental beauratic increase in history. We had a surplas and now we are facing record deficits. The ecomony is strong just look at Ford - no don't look there.
I'm so confused. NOT!!!!
We can do better.