Bush Cronyism Strikes Schools as NCLB Used to Divert Billions to Big Supporters

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Mon, 09/25/2006 - 12:19pm.

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Iraq and New Orleans are not the only places where corruption causes taxpayer money to be spent based on Bush loyalty over merit. According to a new government report, the $5 billion Reading First program - a staple of No Child Left Behind - only allowed states to receive funding for curriculums developed by the publisher McGraw-Hill, Inc.

The Bush and McGraw families have been personally and professionally close since the 1930's. Campaign finance records indicate the McGraws, who still run the company, have been generous donors for Republican candidates in the last decade, including to Bush's campaigns. (Incidentally, the only Democrat recipient we were able to find was Sen. Joe Lieberman)

When No Child Left Behind became law, the Department of Education appointed Christopher Doherty as director of Reading First, who in turn stacked the committees charged with approving states' curriculums with people having "significant professional connections" to the McGraw program, Direct Instruction (DI).

The report includes damning correspondence from Doherty and is conclusive of his corruption and arrogance. Consider this exchange:

Doherty: "Funny that [the Baltimore City Public Schools official] calls *me* to inform that there may be some pro-DI folks on *my* panel!!! Too rich!"
Committee Member: "Does he know who you are? Past and present?"
Doherty: "That’s the funniest part – yes! You know the line from Casablanca, 'I am SHOCKED that there is gambling going on in this establishment!' Well, 'I am SHOCKED that there are pro-DI people on this panel!'"

In another retort, Doherty exclaimed, "'Stack the panel?'…I have never *heard* of such a thing. . . <harumph, harumph>[.]"

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has denounced the cronyism and is pleading ignorance. However, a quick Google search reveals that educators have known about the problem for years. In September 2005, Education Week reported that states conspicuously had requests for alternative programs denied and were ultimately forced to use McGraw. Another site proves that experts were aware of the problem at least as far back as early 2004.

Though Doherty recently resigned in advance of the report, Rep. George Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education Committee, thinks a further response is merited. "Everyone at the Department of Education who was involved in perpetrating this fraud on school districts should be fired – not suspended, not reassigned, not admonished, but fired," he said. "This was not an accident. This was a concerted effort to corrupt the process on behalf of partisan supporters, and taxpayers and schoolchildren are the ones who got harmed by it."

The report comes just after similar government findings of cronyism and corruption by the Departments of the Interior and Housing and Urban Development, along with stories that Iraq reconstruction officials were chosen based on Republican loyalty, not practical experience.

Miller has called for immediate congressional hearings on Reading First, but expressed little hope that House leaders would cooperate. "The Republican Congress is a giant rubber stamp for the administration," said Miller. "They always have been, and as long as they are in power, they always will be."

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What better way to create a whole generation of loyal "subjects"

Submitted by lindal on Tue, 09/26/2006 - 12:54pm.

than to control the education process--especially the reading material: first you set up a system that makes sure only your approved publisher's books are in all schools; then you re-edit all of the books so that they contain only the information that you want included--of course slanted in the correct way--eg re-writing the Iraq invasion fiasco so that it looks like a successful rout of a bunch of terrorists!

This is in line with the ways the neo-cons have been taking over the rest of our country (agencies, courts, etc)--under the radar--so no one really pays attention, and their goal is to "win the hearts and minds" of our children. Who's going to stop them?

Reading First

Submitted by JeanRR on Mon, 09/25/2006 - 5:12pm.

This is the one time where Bush cronyism is a good thing. McGraw-Hill's Direct Instruction reading programs are far and away the best programs for teaching reading. Nothing else comes close, not even McGraw-Hill's other reading programs.

Tell Me

Submitted by VettaKing on Mon, 09/25/2006 - 9:32pm.

What is McGraw-Hill Direct Instruction? Is it a phonics based program? I am unfamiliar with it. I went to a private school in 1st grade(Thanks to Grandpa and his savings) and I went from 0 reading comprehension to being able to sound out almost anything in a few months. I still believe good old repetitive phonics is the best way. I believe the biggest problem in education in this country is the Cons have gutted the first formative years public education system and kids are falling behind and never catch up.

Negroponte & NCLB

Submitted by lindal on Mon, 09/25/2006 - 1:06pm.

Too coincidentally, I just found out that Negroponte was Exec. VP for Global Markets at McGraw-Hill from 1997-2001.

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Bush Cronyism Strikes Schools as NCLB Used to Divert Billions to Big Supporters

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What better way to create a whole generation of loyal "subjects"

Reading First

Tell Me

Negroponte & NCLB

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