Another U.S. Dept. Of Education Scandal

Representative George Miller, D-CA, Chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, and Senator Edward Kennedy, D-MA, are conducting probes into allegations that some government advisers may have broken the law by telling school districts that they had to buy only reading programs and tests endorsed by the department for the Reading First program. Federal rules prohibit a government office from endorsing any product or any curriculum. The first hearings will be held Friday, where Miller will be calling Chris Doherty, the program's former director, three top advisers, and John Higgins, the Education Department's inspector general. Part of the evaluation bid for Reading First went to RMC Research Corporation, whose three advisers are scheduled to testify Friday.

This probe comes on the heels of another investigation being conducted over a top official at the U.S. Department of Education having some questionable stock deals while managing the federal student loan program. (See: Top U.S. Education Official Put on Leave for Questionable Backdoor Deals). Concerned educators, administrators, and parents should be wondering - who exactly is running the show at the top of our Education Department? Margaret Spellings, took the helm at the top as Education Secretary in 2005. Prior to that, Spellings was a White House domestic policy adviser. She claims the trouble began before her move to head the Education Department, when Rod Paige was Education Secretary. But fingers are pointing the other direction, also. According to a report by USA Today, Mike Petrilli, former associate deputy secretary under Paige, says Spellings "micromanaged the implementation of Reading First from her West Wing office." Now, democrats want some answers and promise a full investigation of yet another conflict-of-interest case at the U.S. Department of Education.