Criminal Referral in Reading Program 20 Apr 2007 A federal investigator looking into allegations of conflict of interest and mismanagement in a $1 billion-a-year Education Department reading program said Friday he has made criminal referrals to the Justice Department. Reading First, created by President [sic] Bush's signature No Child Left Behind law, offers intensive reading help for low-income children in the early grades. But investigators say that federal officials intervened to influence state and local decisions about what programs to use, a potential violation of the law. Some of the people who were influencing those decisions had a financial interest in the programs that were being pushed, officials said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6574809,00.html
'That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me.' Key Initiative of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation --Officials Profited From Reading First Program 21 Apr 2007 The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the center of President [sic] 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."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002284.html
