lily
04-21-2007, 07:42 PM
:coffee:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002284.html?referrer=email
Key Initiative Of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation
Officials Profited From Reading First Program
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 21, 2007; Page A01
The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading
initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law,
another blow to a program besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of
interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.
The disclosure came as a congressional hearing revealed how people
implementing the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program made at least $1
million off textbooks and tests toward which the federal government steered
states.
"That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me," said Rep. George Miller
(D-Calif.), chairman of the House education committee, which held a
five-hour investigative hearing. "You don't get to override the law," he
angrily told a panel of Reading First officials. "But the fact of the matter
is that you did."
The Education Department's inspector general, John P. Higgins Jr., said he
has made several referrals to the Justice Department about the five-year-old
program, which provides grants to improve reading for children in
kindergarten through third grade.
Higgins declined to offer more specifics, but Christopher J. Doherty, former
director of Reading First, said in an interview that he was questioned by
Justice officials in November. The civil division of the U.S. attorney's
office for the District, which can bring criminal charges, is reviewing the
matter.
Doherty, one of the two Education Department employees who oversaw the
initiative, acknowledged yesterday that his wife had worked for a decade as
a paid consultant for a reading program, Direct Instruction, that
investigators said he improperly tried to force schools to use. He
repeatedly failed to disclose the conflict on financial disclosure forms.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002284.html?referrer=email
Key Initiative Of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation
Officials Profited From Reading First Program
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 21, 2007; Page A01
The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading
initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law,
another blow to a program besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of
interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.
The disclosure came as a congressional hearing revealed how people
implementing the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program made at least $1
million off textbooks and tests toward which the federal government steered
states.
"That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me," said Rep. George Miller
(D-Calif.), chairman of the House education committee, which held a
five-hour investigative hearing. "You don't get to override the law," he
angrily told a panel of Reading First officials. "But the fact of the matter
is that you did."
The Education Department's inspector general, John P. Higgins Jr., said he
has made several referrals to the Justice Department about the five-year-old
program, which provides grants to improve reading for children in
kindergarten through third grade.
Higgins declined to offer more specifics, but Christopher J. Doherty, former
director of Reading First, said in an interview that he was questioned by
Justice officials in November. The civil division of the U.S. attorney's
office for the District, which can bring criminal charges, is reviewing the
matter.
Doherty, one of the two Education Department employees who oversaw the
initiative, acknowledged yesterday that his wife had worked for a decade as
a paid consultant for a reading program, Direct Instruction, that
investigators said he improperly tried to force schools to use. He
repeatedly failed to disclose the conflict on financial disclosure forms.