Letter to Comptroller General David M. Walker

Title: Letter to Comptroller General David M. Walker
Date: 10/21/2004
Location: Unknown

The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General
Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548

October 21, 2004

Dear Mr. Walker:

I am writing to request that the Government Accountability Office examine the process used by the U.S. Department of Education in awarding two recent contracts. I believe it is important to ensure that both the letter and spirit of the law are followed in distributing these - and all - taxpayer dollars.

First, the Department of Education awarded $4.1 million to former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett's online education company, K12, from No Child Left Behind's Voluntary Public School Choice Program even though Bennett's company does not meet the program's basic criteria. I understand that there are several problems with this award:

- NCLB's Voluntary Public School Choice Program is supposed to give priority to programs that move students from low-performing public schools to high-performing public schools. However, most of the money awarded to K12 is being used for an online learning academy that supports home-schooled students who are not even in public schools - much less moving into high-performing schools.

- The project received approval from a political appointee - Deputy Secretary Bill Hansen - over the objections of the career staff who had recommended funding a slate of 10 projects that did not include K12.

- Another project that competed for the same funds and was rated higher by peer reviews than K12 was not funded.

- K12 has close ties to current Department of Education staff. Secretary Paige was on K12's advisory board until he joined the Cabinet, and an associate deputy undersecretary of education was a vice president of K12 until he joined the Bush Administration.

As you examine the process used to award this contract, it would be helpful if you could determine whether or not senior Department of Education officials with ties to the Education Leaders Council recused themselves from any role in awarding the grants.

Second, the Department of Education reportedly disregarded two out of three reviewers' rejections of the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE), a project of the Education Leadership Council, and awarded two grants totaling $40 million. The decision to award these grants ran directly contrary to a peer reviewer's finding that "There is no evidence that there is a demand for this credential," according to Education Week. Deputy Secretary Hickok was one of the founders of the Education Leadership Council.

The awarding of these grants to applicants who do not appear to meet the standards proscribed for grantees in the statute or by independent peer reviewers raises serious questions. The association of these grantees to high-ranking Department of Education officials compounds these concerns. The GAO should independently and thoroughly review the awarding of these contracts and determine the appropriateness of the decisions awarding millions of dollars to these companies.

Should you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Alice Johnson Cain of the Committee staff, at 202-225-3725. I look forward to your response to this request and thank you in advance for your work on this matter.

Sincerely,

GEORGE MILLER
Senior Democratic Member
Committee on Education and the Workforce