Reading program blasted on ethics

WASHINGTON — A scorching internal review of the Bush administration's billion-dollar-a-year reading program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.

The government audit is unsparing in its view that the Reading First program has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It suggests the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use.

It also depicts a program in which review panels were stacked with people who shared the director's views and in which only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money.

In one e-mail, the director told a staffer to come down hard on a company he didn't support, according to the report released Friday by the department's inspector general.

"They are trying to crash our party and we need to beat the [expletive deleted] out of them in front of all the other would-be party crashers who are standing on the front lawn waiting to see how we welcome these dirtbags," the program director wrote, the report says.

That official, Chris Doherty, will resign soon, department spokeswoman Katherine McLane said Friday. Asked if his quitting was in response to the report, she said Doherty is returning to the private sector after five years at the agency. Doherty declined to comment.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings pledged to swiftly adopt all the audit's recommendations. She also pledged a review of every Reading First grant her agency has approved.

"When something undermines the credibility of this department, or the standing of any program, I'm going to spring into action," she said.

Reading First aims to help young children read by using scientifically proven programs, and the department considers it a jewel of No Child Left Behind, Bush's education law. Just this week, a separate review found the effort is helping schools raise achievement.

Beginning in 2002, the program awarded the state of Washington $60 million over five years. In 2005-06, 28 school districts, including Seattle, awarded Reading First grants to more than 70 schools, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The federal program has been dogged by accusations of impropriety from the start, leading to several audits. The new report from the Office of Inspector General — an independent arm of the Education Department — calls into question the program's credibility.

About 1,500 school districts have received $4.8 billion in Reading First grants.

The audit found the department:

• Botched how it picked a panel to review grant applications, raising questions over whether grants were approved as the law requires.

• Screened grant reviewers for conflicts of interest but failed to identify six who had a clear conflict based on their industry connections.

• Did not let states see the comments of experts who reviewed their applications.

• Required states to meet conditions that weren't part of the law.

• Tried to downplay elements of the law it didn't like when working with states.

The report does not name Doherty, referring to him as the Reading First director.

It says he repeatedly used his influence to steer money toward states that used a reading approach he favored, Direct Instruction, or DI.

Spellings, who became secretary in 2005, said she is not aware of any effort to favor certain reading programs.

Seattle Times reporter Linda Shaw contributed to this report.