| H o w w e t a k e b a c k o u r c h i l d r e n ' s e d u c a t i o n -- o n e p e r s o n , o n e q u e s t i o n , o n e s c h o o l a t a t i m e . |
| Cy-Fair's David Anthony (C) at resort with bar cart girl (L), AIG vendor Ken Coffey (R) at 2:30 pm on Friday, Apr. 20 of TAKS testing week |
| Some folks leave office more graciously than others. Hard to imagine Texas edu-missioner Shirley Neeley's release this week of her inspector general's findings linking her friend Jimmy Wynn's grant-writing activities to TEA chief deputy commissioner Robert Scott as falling into the "kinder, gentler" tone she invoked when joining the agency in 2004. Here's an excerpt from TEA's org chart : |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
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| Copyright 1999-2007 Peyton Wolcott |
| TEA's check register: |
| C o n s e r v a t i v e C o m m e n t a r y - July 2007 |
| "Superintendents and school boards would have to be willing to be perceived as being anti-open government and anti-transparency to turn down requests that they post their check registers online." |
KEY POINT: "Superintendents and school boards would have to be willing to be perceived as being anti-open government and anti-transparency to turn down your request that they post their check registers online." --Peyton Wolcott |
| http://www.ednews.org /articles/8244/1/An-Inte rview-with-Peyton-Wol cott-quotIs-the-Check-i n-the-Mail-or-On-Line- quot/Page1.html |
| Education News Interview (Michael Shaughnessy) February 19, 2007 www.EdNews.org |
ONLY 9 EASY STEPS TO ACCESS DALLAS ISD'S CHECK REGISTER ONLINE: STEP 1 START HERE: www.dallasisd.org STEP 2 ON THE LEFT (GREY BOX 'QUICKLINKS') CHOOSE: Board of Trustees STEP 3 YOU'LL SEE 2 GREY LINES OF TYPE; FROM 2nd LINE CHOOSE: Meeting Agendas STEP 4 SCROLL DOWN; FOR THE MOST RECENT CHECK REGISTER CHOOSE THE MOST RECENT "BOARD BRIEFINGS" ------ STEP 5 CHOOSE: FEB. 8, 2007 STEP 6 FIND "Briefing Meeting - February 8, 2007 11:30AM STEP 7 CLICK ON: "AGENDA PACKET" STEP 8 SCROLL DOWN TO 4. FINANCIAL SERVICES (Business Services Division) b. Ratification of List of Bills, Claims and Accounts for Demember 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006 ($74,044,519.08) STEP 9 CLICK ON "BillsClaims_ Attachment" VOILA! YOU'VE JUST ACCESSED DALLAS ISD'S CHECK REGISTER IN ONLY 9 --COUNT 'EM, 9-- EASY STEPS! |
| Fort Bend Now - Editorial Feb. 2, 2007 www.fortbendnow.co m/opinion |
| Dallas Blog Feb. 19, 2007 www.dallasblog.com |
| Houston Chronicle Feb. 13, 2007 http://blogs.chron.c om/insidekaty |
| Looking for articles re online check registers? |
| Education News www.EdNews.org Dallas ISD's check register online! Houston's soon! Feb. 16, 2007 |
| SEEING IS BELIEVING Although Katy ISD supe Leonard Merrell has just retired, his self- named "Leonard E. Merrell Center" (above) at Katy ISD still bears his name not once but twice, and remains the only such edifice in the U.S. which a working supe named for himself. (Updated July 4, 2007) |
| Easiest way to find articles: "Peyton Wolcott" & "check registers" Almost 200 online as of Apr. 4, 23, 2007 |
| Not a PR pro? How to talk to your local school board & supe about putting your district's checks online By Peyton Wolcott Copyright 2007 Updated Mar. 28, 2007 Friends, a light bulb went off recently when an astute friend remarked, "You know, most grassroots parents and taxpayers aren't good at PR." This comment took me off guard, but do you know what? He was right. Many of our best volunteers are rational people, engineers and accountants and the like, who are used to an environment in which facts reign. |
| It takes us a very long while to understand that our public schools are essentially socialist models and their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. Further, our superintendents attend confer- ences and meetings where they learn how to develop their PR skills, and they hire well-paid PR guys and gals who are skilled in the art of public relations. This is the arena into which we step. Also, by the time most of us get to the point that we are interested in seeing how our district spends its money, there have been precipitating incidents. As another friend put it, "I just wanted to slug someone at that board meeting." This man is a genuinely decent human being and the comment surprised me-- but it's not the first time I've heard this from a parent. It wasn't always that way. Generally we start out assuming our dealings with our school districts will be a rational exercise. Most of us are volunteers and in addition to our taxes give generously to our children's schools. Then when we spend a lot of time there, we notice things. Years ago I myself felt sure that if I showed my local supe and board where money was being wasted in some areas and not adequately safeguarded in others that they would welcome this information with open arms and changes would be made on the spot. Hah! Imagine my surprise when they reacted as though to a personal attack when I was just trying to help. At this point we often start gathering hard data on our schools because we assume--also incorrectly, as it turns out-- that "someone" higher up is watching out. But the "someone" turns out to be us. We learn that our local schools have next to no real oversight; as just one example witness the two dozen state, federal and local governmental bodies and elected officials two moms in Texas contacted in their effort to bring their local superintendent to justice. Besides, to focus on spread sheets and flow charts to take to "someone in charge" is to focus on the wake of the wave and not the boat and the pilot. This is why I have come to the conclusion after years in the grassroot trenches that the best and most effective single step we can take to help our districts reign in costs and improve our vendor-driven curriculums in order to better educate our kids is to persuade our schools to post their check registers online. When we approach our districts, we have found there are some things we can do which are more effective than others. Like I tell my kids, go and make new mistakes--don't replicate mine. To make it easier for you to successfully ask your local district to put its check register online, I've just posted two new pages; the first walks you through the process, and the second is a flyer you can print as is, or you can copy and paste* the report sec- tion in the grey box on the left. I've done this successful- ly, and wouldn't recommend that you undertake something I haven't already done myself. If I can do it, you can, too-- and probably much better! |
| Our public schools are essentially socialist models and their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. |
| Oct. 1, 2006 was the start date of the National School District Honor Roll with four small school districts in Texas who'd posted their check registers online. We now have 56 districts either online or committed-- or where parents and taxpayers have begun asking. Districts are almost all saying "yes" immediately. Why? Superintendents and board members understand it's better to be on the beginning of this wave than in its wake. |
Looking for previous COMMENTARIES ? Click on "Archives" button up on the tool bar. CHECK REGISTER COMMENTARIES ? Wondering who came online and when? Previous check register commentaries have moved to: |
| * Please attribute and include copyright. |
| National School District Honor Roll FIRST & MOST COMPLETE U.S. LIST ++++++++++++++++ Updated weekly ++++++++++++++++++ 47 districts online $28.3 billion! |
| Dallas Morning News March 8, 2007 |
| UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE |
| Austin American- Statesman March 23, 2007 |
| Former Bremond ISD supe |
| THE BIG PICTURE |
| Public Records |
| Sentencing |
| Bremond ISD |
| Home of the National School District Honor Roll 47 districts 4 states $28.3 billion How to ask your school district to post its checks online Flyer History |
| Practical steps: How to Organize 95 Questions How to ask for public records |
| Origin of the National School District Honor Roll |
| Another day in paradise: Texas' hardworking supes golfing with vendors during TAKS testing week By Peyton Wolcott Tue., Apr. 24, 2007/1:04 am |
_______________
| Former Bremond ISD supe Kenny Johnson (Sheriff Dep't/mug shot) |
| Former Llano ISD supe/Texas' first Public Information Act conviction Jack Patton negotiating settlement with board after trial, after surrendering certificate |
| Remember Dallas ISD's tech guy Ruben Bohuchot's use of vendor's"Sir Veza"? The yacht's been-- forgive us -- "Rehabbed." |
| SCHOOL DISTRICTS WITH THEIR CHECK REGISTERS ONLINE: ILLINOIS: Carpentersville SD 300* Elgin U-46* Huntley CUSD 158* Naperville CUSD MINNESOTA Milaca ISD TEXAS: Arlington ISD Bellville ISD Big Spring ISD Blackwell CISD Bremond ISD Center Pt. ISD Chester ISD Comal ISD Conroe ISD* Cy-Fair ISD* Dallas ISD Denison ISD Ector Co. ISD Electra ISD Grandfalls-Royalty ISD Hempstead ISD Holliday ISD Houston ISD* Hunt ISD Katy ISD Keller ISD* Kerrvile ISD Leander ISD Leonard ISD Malakoff ISD Marble Falls ISD Meadow ISD McKinney ISD Nederland ISD New Caney ISD Nordheim ISD No.Forest ISD Pasadena ISD Quinlan ISD Round Rock ISD* Royce City ISD San Angelo ISD Spring Branch ISD * Tomball ISD Van Alstyne ISD Wharton ISD Wimberley ISD COMMITTED/SOON El Paso ISD (TX) Galena Park ISD (TX) Miami-Dade CPS(FL) Richardson ISD (TX) Sundown ISD (TX) Temple ISD (TX) Ysleta ISD (TX) STATE DOE ONLINE Texas Education Agency MIDDLE EDU-LAYER St. Clair County RESA (MI) PARENTS,TAXPAYERS TRUSTEES ASKING: Cedar Rapids PS (IA) ChippewaVall.SD(MI) Cleburne ISD (TX) Eanes ISD (TX) Lake Travis ISD (TX) Lancaster ISD (TX) Midway-Waco ISD (TX) New York CPS (NY) Omaha PS (NB) Santa Cruz CPS (AZ) *No check numbers (Source for 6 districts- Houston Chronicle) |
| You're Gov. Perry for a day: Your pick for Texas' next edu- missioner is ____? By Peyton Wolcott Monday, June 25/1:08 am You've got one basic decision; on it everything else hinges: |
| Are you really ready to do something about the mess our current vendor-driven public school system has become, or are you going to appoint someone from the same old tarnished Education, Inc. gene pool we've been culling from for the past dozen years? As guv-for-a-day, the person you hire will either continue to plunge Texas public education deeper into the subjective touchy-feely fuzzy math whole-language abyss in which it's become mired -- the one which has already produced a generation of young adults who can't tell you what six times nine is without a calculator and who don't know where Alsace-Lorraine is and why knowing that's important to the future of our Southern border with Mexico -- or you'll find a way to appease business interests and still put someone in charge who is smart and savvy enough to make the changes that are necessary. The nominees The names most frequently presented this past week: Robert Scott, Sandy Kress, Bill Hammond, Ric Williamson, Kent Grusendorf, Talmadge Heflin, John Folks, David Anthony, Leonard Merrell and Mike Hinojosa. |
| what's wrong with our public schools today for many diverse reasons--including being a paid education lobbyist--one of the biggest practical if not political strikes against Kress is the fact that his son does not attend Austin ISD public schools but instead attends a private preparatory school in Austin. Somehow it doesn't seem quite cricket that a fellow who's made a fortune from public education would be sending his child to a private school--especially if he really believes, as again and again he says does. Is Kress tied to growing New Orleans PS scandal? Former NOPS board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms pleaded guilty to bribery charges earlier this week and "has agreed to cooperate fully with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office.... The plea by Brooks-Simms marks the zenith thus far of a five-year federal probe into Orleans Parish schools that has netted 28 additional indictments of employees and contractors on various bribery, fraud and theft charges....Records show the company has paid lucrative fees to lobbying juggernauts including...Akin Gump." (SOURCE--New Orleans Times-Picayune) Sandy Kress is a partner in Akin Gump. For those of you just back from ten years Zimbabwe, Kress is also a former Dallas ISD school board trustee and was the education advisor to President Bush credited as being the primary architect of No Child Left Behind. Among the groups with which he's been associated: Texas Business & Education Coalition on whose board he serves with the likes of Mike Moses, Bracewell partner David Thompson and TASA's Kay Waggoner. According to Texas Ethics Commission records, for just one activity--as paid lobbyist for Texans for Excellence in the Classroom-- Kress expects his annual compensation to be in the neighborhood of $100,000 to $149,999.99. |
| Sandy Kress (2nd from left) |
| Education, Inc. candidates Business sector Although Sandy Kress epitomizes for many parents and taxpayers |
| The blogospher on Kress I still consider it one of life's great mysteries as to how anyone who listens to Kress for as long as it takes to spell c-o-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n could be impressed by anything he has to say about any legitimate conception of education. (SOURCE--School Matters) Kress has used his knowledge and connections to earn millions as a high-powered lobbyist for test publishers...He’s made about $4 million in lobbying contracts, in large part from companies that profit from provisions of the law he helped to design. (SOURCE--Emily Pyle/Texas Observer) [Regarding NCLB/Reading First] Surely from the beginning, from the crafty engineering and writing of the law to its implementation, cronyism and conflicts of intereset have abounded. Who has benefited from this regressive and oppressive law? The financial benefit to Sandy Kress alone is probably staggering. (SOURCE--Educator Roundtable) Thanks to Sandy Kress, several brand-new spigots had begun to pump billions in federal dollars out of public schools and into the private sector, where corporate interests had only to hold out their buckets and fill ‘em up. (SOURCE--Daily Kos) |
| Bill Hammond is another business lobbyist--he's president of the Texas Association of Business-- and someone else many parents and taxpayers |
| Bill Hammond |
| To make this easier for you, guv-for-a-day, assuming you're short on time, here's the short-form EZ graphics version; the longer form with factual supporting data follows: |
| Sandy Kress, Bill Hammond, Ric Williamson and Kent "Pushing Laptops Is My Middle Name" Grusendorf are profiled at right. Austin insiders say Cy-Fair's David Anthony has never really been in the running and that his and San Antonio's John Folk's and Dallas' Hinojosa candidacies may be more a function of contract negotiations with their boards; you see the idea. Does Texas really need an education commissioner who would leave his teachers and students behind back in his hometown to play golf at a resort on Friday of TAKS testing week with an insurance vendor (below)? Or a paid lobbyist with deep and rich connections to education vendors? That's what we'd get with David Anthony or Sandy Kress. |
| Sandy Kress, Bill Hammond, Ric Williamson, John Folks, David Anthony, Leonard Merrell and Mike Hinojosa. |
xxx
| The blogosphere on Hammond BRIEF: The head of one of Texas' largest business lobbies was taken into custody Monday after refusing to turn over documents concerning the organization's secretly-funded advertising campaign during the 2002 legislative races. Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond also decided not to pay his $500 fine for contempt and was ordered held in the Austin jury room until 5 p.m. when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals set bail at $1,500 and he was released. (SOURCE--KPFT) Leave it to Shirley Neeley and her ventriloquists in the governor's office to appoint a "task force" of political insiders to investigate cheating on the TAKS test. All five of the appointees are connected to the Texas Public Education Establishment....The five are Dr. Carole Francois, education consultant; Bill Hammond, chief of the Texas Association of Business; Sylvia Hatton, former executive director of the TEA's regional education service center in Edinburg; George McShan, former president of the state and national associations of school boards; and A.J. Rodriguez, head of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Some might remember Dr. Francois from days when she was former Dallas ISD Supt. Mike Moses' chief of staff. She also worked for Moses at TEA. (SOURCE--Scott Parks/Dallas Morning News Blog) |
| Kent Grusendorf The former House Public Education chair was defeated for a variety of reasons last year including his relentless pushing of taxpayer- funded laptops for all students. Putting someone so out of touch with the populace, including teachers, in charge of TEA seems not wise. Further, he was unseated by Diane Patrick, a former teacher and considered a friend of public schools. |
| Texas Senate Education chair Florence Shapiro on Sandy Kress: "When it comes to public schools and the betterment of children, I don't know of anyone who cares more about that than Sandy Kress. Ms. Shapiro said she sees Mr. Kress as a friend, not one of the estimated 300 Austin lawyer- lobbyists who represent clients interested in public education law. ' I have no idea who his clients are,' she said." Comment: Apparently Mr. Kress' interest in public schools and the betterment of children does not extend to his own son, given that his son attends a private prep school. |
| Comment Call some of us populists, call others of us egalitarian, but it seems that anyone wanting to head up Texas' public schools should at the very least have his son enrolled in one. It is troubling that the man who has been a part of selling so much stuff to our public schools finds our public schools sufficiently lacking that he has enrolled his son in a private school. A nagging question: If Sandy finds our public schools sufficiently lacking that he will not send his son to one, does this mean the stuff we are buying from his clients the school peddlers is not working? If if it's not working, whyare we buying it? |
| Developing . . . . |
| Shirley Neeley |
| Robert Scott |
| 2 boxes: Internal Audit Insp. General |
| 51 boxes: (all other TEA employees including legal, standards, charters, audits, assessment, finance, governance, certification, budget) |
| TEA INSPECTOR GENERAL'S REPORT Much ado--but about what? (And why now?) By Peyton Wolcott Mon., July 2, 2007/11 p.m. |
| Is the Inspector General's report timing accidental? o Jan. 2007 - Gov. Perry doesn't reappoint Shirley Neeley as Texas education commissioner. o Feb. 4 - Anonymous TEA tipster approaches Shirley with "concerns" about TEA's grant process; Shirley asks TEA inspector general to investigate. o Mar.-Apr. - Inspector general's report goes to Shirley. o June 15 - Inspector general's final report. o June 27 - TEA releases inspector general's report to the press while Gov. Perry is in the Holy Land for a week. o June 29 - Shirley's last day at TEA. |
| Mobile Satellite Ventures L.P. 10802 Parkridge Boulevard Reston, VA 20191-4334 Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 Pearson Education 1 Lake Street Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 Texans for Excellence in the Classroom 515 Congress Avenue Suite 1780 Austin, TX 78701 Type of Compensation: Prospective Amount: $100,000 - $149,999.99 |
| Texas supes golfing on Friday, April 20, 2007 during TAKS testing week at TAS/MUS "Boerne Tourney" |
| Should this public school profiteer* be Texas' next education commissioner? By Peyton Wolcott - Updated Wed. July 11, 2007/1:09 am |
| Education lobbyist and lawyer Sandy Kress discussing NCLB on PBS |
| One of the tests of growing up is learning that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Austin lobbyist/lawyer Sandy Kress has certainly paid his dues--in some cases literally perhaps--towards the cause of his being named Texas' next edumissioner. He is after all most commonly called "the architect of No Child Left Behind." Where the dilemma lies is that for some people this is a good thing and for many others, it is not. As regards his ties to a seemingly endless stream of public school vendors, it is very difficult to imagine that with a few signed papers Sandy could sufficiently divest himself of all holdings for the period of his service as Texas edu-missioner. Look at this sampling, judge for yourself: |
| TEXAS ETHICS COMMIS SION: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP 300 West 6th Street Suite 2100 Austin, TX 78701 Type of Compensati on: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 D.H. Texas Developmen t L.P. c/o Darryl Hammond 326 Calhoun Plaza Port Lavaca, TX 77979 Type of Compensati on: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 Early Care and Educatio n Consorti um 805 15th Street NW Suite 700 Washington, DC 20005 Type of Compensati on: Prospective Amount: $10,000 - $24,999. 99 Edvance Researc h Inc. 9901 IH-10 West Suite 700 San Antonio, TX 78257 Type of Compensati on: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 Governo r's Busines s Council 515 Congress Avenue Suite 1780 Austin, TX 78701 Type of Compensati on: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 MGT of America Inc. 2123 Centre Point Boulevard Tallahassee, FL 32308 Type of Compensati on: Prospective Amount: Less Than $10,000.00 |
| Why focus on Sandy Kress? Two reasons: One, he is the apparent pick for TEA edu-missioner by the Texas business commun- ity, and appears on all short lists. Two, he's mentioned as a consistent front runner behind deputy commissioner Robert Scott. Why now? We are asking the kinds of questions that had they been asked in December 2003 might have spared us 3 1/2 years of Shirley Neeley's leadership. The truth will come out. Our schoolchildren and their parents and taxpayers deserve nothing less. |
| Salute to America's 2007 Modern Minutemen By Peyton Wolcott Wednesday, July 4, 2007 |
| would like to see kept as far away from public education as legally possible. |
l
| 2007 Moden Minutemen Betsy Combier/New York What one mom can do. www.parentadvocates.org Tim Crews/California What one newspaper editor can do. www.valleymirror.us Allen Gwinn/Texas What one blogger can do. www.dallas.org Mike Shaughnessy/NM What one educator can do. www.ednews.org Rhonda Thurman/Tenn. What one school board member can do. Hamilton County PS Kelly Coghlan, Kelly Shackleford and Jonathan Saenz/Texas What three men can do. HB 3678, Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act Al Kirke, Susan Sarhady, Veronica Jenkins & other "Math Wars" parents/Texas What a group of parents can do. Plano ISD |
| What does July 4th have to do with us and the lives we live today? Many older friends decry our modern age with its problems and seem to have a general yearning to go back to a kinder, gentler and far simpler time. Say, 231 years ago when 56 of our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence? Gary Bauer pointed out yesterday that those men who had the courage to begin our country were "merchants, farmers, clergymen and lawyers, men who stood to lose their wealth and standing in society for signing their names to that document we cherish today. All their lives they had served as loyal subjects of the king. They were all educated men who understood what they were undertaking by rebelling against the British Empire. While honoring their courage, Americans often forget the sufferings of the Founding Fathers. For the most part, the War for Independence destroyed the lives of these men." Bauer points out that at least three of the 56 died bankrupt or in debt: John Hart, Carter Braxton and Thomas Nelson, Jr. Hart for example "had to flee the deathbed of his wife, leaving his 13 children to disperse into hiding from the British, who vandalized his farm. Returning a year later to find that his wife had passed away, his children were missing, and his livelihood had been destroyed. He died within weeks, dejected and alone." |
| As you read this today, here's hoping you're having a happy family holiday, celebrating together the birth of our great republic. |
| *About that public school profiteering There are issues around Sandy Kress' lobbying and business interests. Here's one example: |
| Patriotic boy |
| Some of us will be going to parades -- |
| Patriotic parade |
| -- big or little, some with precision lawnmower drills, others with kids' bicycle races -- |
| -- all with flags and displays of patriotism. |
| Patriotic man |
| Today our public school students are being held hostage by our vendor-driven curriculum practices and the administrators and school board members who benefit from the corruption. Expenses have skyrocketed and our kids' educations have nosedived. The Modern Minutemen listed above are those individuals in our great nation who have seen these situations in their own districts and rather than looking the other way have instead brought significant changes to their local public schools, many with statewide or national significance. Almost all of last year's Minutemen continue their work; on May 31st, Texas mom Nancy Gadbois' superintendent's request for parole was turned down and he remains in prison for another year--that's his mug shot top right above. Pasadena USD dad Rene Amy continues to hold his district accountable via his listserve and a variety of legal maneuvers. Will Fitzhugh continues encouraging students to read history and to write papers. National treasure Donna Garner continues her prolific output and Jimmy Kilpatrick continues posting EdNews.org every day of the year. I have posted their stories because I am encouraged by others' successes and you tell me that you are, too. We all hope you will be inspired to grab hold of one small fixable thing in your local schools and make it better. Start small and start local. To paraphrase an African proverb, it takes a cybervillage to clean up our schools. |
| Paintings like this above by John Trumbull do not indicate the cave John Hart lived in for a time, or the signers' bankruptcies and other misfortunes |
| "The Just OK Chorale" and other photos from Bellfair, Washington's 2004 Fourth of July parade by Tim Wing www.timwing.com |
| VENDORS Doors open and close, and it's clear there are some serious issues around Sandy Kress as Texas' next commissioner of education. Public school profiteer sends own son to private prep school He has made millions from public schools via lobbying for vendors and others--and sends his own son to a private school As a friend put it earlier tonight, "If he were going to be dogcatcher or attorney general or secretary of state, he could send his kid wherever he wanted. But to be head of all of Texas education he really does need to send that boy to public school--and to have been sending him there all along, not a last-minute switcheroo next week." |
| the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. "You wanna know what motivates me?" Mr. Kress asked. "Fixing that problem is what motivates me." Whether to feed his passion or to pad his paycheck, Mr. Kress has picked up his briefcase and headed to the Capitol to join the legislative debate about reshaping schools and the teaching profession. "I'm a radical education reformer," he said. "That is who I am. That is the definition of Sandy Kress." Mr. Kress is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which describes itself as one of the world's largest law firms. He operates from an office on the 21st floor of a downtown Austin high- rise. He lives in a million-dollar home with his wife, Camille. They have two children who attend public schools. Mr. Kress seems to be involved in every serious conversation about education policy from California to New York. His schedule keeps him hopscotching across the country as a cheerleader for No Child Left Behind, the sweeping federal education law that enshrined test data as the centerpiece of school accountability. Under the Texas Capitol dome this session, he is the paid lobbyist for conservative businessmen intent on imposing more accountability on public schools in return for increased funding. He consults for companies that sell products and services to state education agencies and school districts. And he advises corporate chief executives under the banner of business groups such as the Business Roundtable. Mr. Kress declined to reveal his hourly rate. It varies by client, he said. Sometimes, he volunteers his time. At legislative hearings and education conferences and in the press, he is usually identified as a former education adviser to President Bush or as a former Dallas school board president in the mid-1990s. Rarely mentioned publicly, however, are Mr. Kress' connections to powerful companies and business associations that have a stake in a $500-billion-a- year public education machine fueled by a politically volatile mix of federal, state and local taxes. "Sandy is old-school in that he wants to fly under the radar screen, particularly as it relates to his lobbying activities," said longtime friend Robert Spellings, a Washington lobbyist and husband of U. S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. "He quietly goes about his business, and he has credibility." Mr. Kress says he follows all public disclosure laws for lobbyists. He frowned upon hearing his friend's metaphor. "I don't fly above or below anything," he said. Legislative influence Most lawmakers don't seem to care whom Mr. Kress represents. When he speaks, they listen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the state Senate's Education Committee, will be a key player in crafting controversial proposals based on test score data – things such as bonus pay for teachers and state sanctions for low-performing schools. Mr. Kress "has been a vital part of everything I've done for the last two years. I say he is an adviser and mentor, and we share ideas," Ms. Shapiro said. "When it comes to public schools and the betterment of children, I don't know of anyone who cares more about that than Sandy Kress." Ms. Shapiro said she sees Mr. Kress as a friend, not one of the estimated 300 Austin lawyer-lobbyists who represent clients interested in public education law. "I have no idea who his clients are," [Senate Education Committee chair Florence Shapiro] said. Much of Mr. Kress' work takes place under the cloak of attorney-client privilege. "I don't want to talk too much about what I do for my clients because I don't think they like that," he said. Mr. Kress' relationship with Pearson Education, one of the world's largest education companies, illustrates how he works with some clients. Pearson, among other things, publishes textbooks and runs high- stakes test programs for state education agencies. The company holds a $57 million contract to run the TAKS test program for 2004-05, according to the Texas Education Agency. The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency that reports to Congress, says states will spend $1.9 billion to $5.3 billion to implement tests mandated by No Child Left Behind. So what is Mr. Kress' value to a major player in the textbook and testing industries? A January 2003 meeting of Pearson executives and their investors shed some light on that question. Mr. Kress was the featured speaker. Marjorie Scardino, the Texarkana-born chief executive of parent company Pearson PLC (which also owns The Financial Times and Penguin Books), introduced Mr. Kress as one of "the leading advisers on education policy in America." "He also is our adviser," she said. "He talks a lot to us about how NCLB is going to change things for us and what kinds of products and services might be appropriate for that kind of change." Mr. Kress spent 20 minutes guiding Pearson investors through his encyclopedic knowledge of federal law, helping them understand No Child Left Behind's requirements and their effect on the market: more money for English language learners, new mandates for science testing beginning in 2006-07 and a hundred other details. During a recent interview, he talked about how he sees himself and his work. The word "lobbyist" was not prominent in his self-analysis. What he really does, he said, is use a unique blend of knowledge about public education law and education research to chart the future for his clients. He reads research. For example, he knows what middle school math textbooks should contain and who should be hired to write them. "I may say, 'Here's what I think' or 'Here's what I see.' " From Dallas to D.C. How can he be both a professorial guru and a hired gun? One lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, likened Mr. Kress to Jell-O that's hard to grab onto. In the mid-1980s, he was Democratic Party chairman in Dallas County. He ran for the Dallas school board in 1992 and won. Even back then, he advocated upgrading learning by using a standardized test to measure academic success and teacher performance. In 1993, George W. Bush was preparing to run for governor and called Mr. Kress for a tutorial on education policy. They became friends. By 1995, Mr. Kress had become Dallas school board president. It was an extraordinarily divisive period for the Dallas Independent School District. Mr. Kress and other whites on the board often voted with the Latino members in a bloc that became known as the "slam- dunk gang." Black trustees accused him of running a dictatorship that targeted minority schools for punishment for academic problems. He said he was just trying to improve the schools, and in fact student test scores did rise during his tenure. Under his leadership, DISD also implemented an accountability system to link teachers' evaluations to the performance of their students. But after four racially charged years on the board, he chose not to run for re-election in 1996. "The political conflicts in Dallas were complex," he said. "I don't purport to fully understand them." The political turmoil helped persuade Mr. Kress to leave Dallas in 1997 and establish himself in Austin. By then, he had become a confidant to both Democrats and Republicans. His loyalty to Mr. Bush had deepened. In 2001, he turned up as a temporary government employee in Washington. With his bipartisan pedigree and education expertise, Mr. Bush saw him as the perfect choice to shepherd No Child Left Behind through Congress. Mr. Kress got much of the credit for passing the law. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called him the president's "smooth talker." He left Washington with greater stature among Republicans, who were becoming the winning team in Washington and Austin. Even so, Mr. Kress never switched parties publicly. He started referring to himself as "post-partisan." Records show that he and his wife have contributed $7,000 to the Bush presidential campaigns. But he also contributed to his law firm's political action committee, which gives money to both Republicans and Democrats. Voting records show that he participated in the 2000 Republican primary. In 2002, he voted in the Democratic primary. He didn't vote in either primary in 2004. "I still get surprised when folks ascribe political motives to what I do," he said. "I work with Democrats. I work with Republicans. And I don't see myself, for better or worse, as making decisions to curry favor on a partisan basis." The accountability fight Mr. Kress also lobbies for Texas Businesses for Educational Excellence, a loose-knit group that wants a more productive public education system for their tax dollars. The group advocates a tightly controlled industrial model for education called standards-based accountability. The state develops a script – grade by grade and subject by subject – to determine what children should be taught. It's called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Teachers follow the guidelines, and children are tested to measure academic production. Test results allow the state to target teachers and principals for praise or blame. The scores also point to schools that might need restructuring. Teachers and other critics say this system steals creativity from the classroom and leaves no time for deeper learning and critical thinking. Mr. Kress dismisses those complaints. He says good teachers can find time for a well-rounded curriculum beyond TEKS. "You cannot teach a whole semester on dinosaurs," Mr. Kress said. "With some teachers, it would be a whole semester on dinosaurs. It's a revolution. In the past, those decisions were made in the classroom." Linda McNeil, a professor of education at Rice University, says the business model for public education is disrespectful of teachers. "The idea is that teachers don't work hard and that they need to be shaped up by business people," said Dr. McNeil, a critic of the standards-based accountability movement. The focus on a uniform statewide testing system, she argued, shifts public attention away from the poor school environment that many lower- income students endure each day – inferior libraries, too few textbooks, no running water in science classes. "Sameness becomes a proxy for equity," she said. "The so-called accountability system becomes a mask for the old inequalities." Critics say Mr. Kress' education philosophy equates teachers to salesmen. Mr. Kress is among those who advocate bonuses for schools that score better on TAKS, with principals deciding which teachers are rewarded. He is also pushing the TEA to classify more Texas schools as "low- performing." Right now, some are ranked "acceptable" even though no more than 25 percent of their students pass the TAKS test. Mr. Kress also advocates new, "muscular" sanctions for schools that remain low-performing for three years in a row when compared with schools with similar demographics. To escape those schools, parents might be given publicly funded vouchers to transfer their children to private schools. Or regulators might turn the operations of chronically low-performing schools over to private for-profit or nonprofit management companies. "Whether it's done by school people themselves or contracted out to somebody else, I'm agnostic on that," Mr. Kress said. "But that it be done is essential." Mr. Kress also says he believes state government should expand the number of charter schools in Texas. Educational choices for parents are a good thing, he said. The opposition Talk of vouchers and privatizing public schools is threatening to many teachers, administrators and other public school advocates. Ms. Boyle, the former PTA mom, works with many of those who are alarmed. She runs the Coalition for Public Schools, an amalgam of 40 organizations that represent everyone from teachers to school administrators to elected school board members. And she is suspicious of those who talk about issuing vouchers and corporations taking over failing public schools. "I'm looking at all of this as a parent with a lot of heart involved," said Ms. Boyle, who spends her days fighting legislative proposals to divert money from public schools. "These guys are looking at schools with their brains and calculators." E-mail sparks@dallasnews.com ______________________________ ("KRESS: HIS CLIENTS AND HIS ACTIVITIES" continued above left) |
| Here's a Fourth of July salute to our American troops -- God bless you all. |
| Is "profiteer" too harsh a description? According to most dictionaries, a profiteer is someone who makes what is considered an unreasonable profit. Until Sandy Kress and Pearson (see Houston Chronicle quotes above) and his other clients open up their books how can we determine what is reasonable and what is not? Would Sandy Kress be willing to show us his last five years of IRS filings, with attachments? |
| Kress client Pearson's $279 million contract "The Texas Education Agency has agreed to pay Iowa-based Pearson Educa- tional Measurement about $39 million for field testing conducted from 2005-2010, accord- ing to the agency... Field testing accounts for about 15 percent of Pearson's entire five-year, $279 million contract with the agency." (SOURCE--Ericka Mellon/Houston Chronicle) |
| Here are some points made by Scott Parks of the Dallas Morning News: |
| The big man on campus reform Lobbyist a go-to guy on school policy, but some question his motives 10:26 PM CST on Saturday, March 5, 2005 By SCOTT PARKS/The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN – Sandy Kress is charting the future for America's schoolchildren. |
| Ten years ago, he was president of the Dallas school board. In 2001, he helped President Bush shoulder the No Child Left Behind Act through Congress. He's a lawyer, a lobbyist, an education policy wonk and a once-prominent Democrat who became a top adviser to Republicans. And today, at age 55, Mr. Kress is among the most influential players in the education-industrial complex. Some critics see a conflict. On the one hand, Mr. Kress is a leading advocate of using test data to hold schools accountable; he says his motivation is to make education better for children. On the other, the accountability movement that he espouses benefits the clients who have made him wealthy. "One of the things that irritates people is that he wraps George W. Bush around his neck like a mink stole, and he is really this highly paid hired gun who opens up education markets for big companies," said Carolyn Boyle, a former PTA mom who lobbies to maintain funding for public schools. Mr. Kress dismisses such talk as hyperbole from people who "see hobgoblins" and "commies under the bed." What they should be focusing on, he said, is bad schools where most kids fail |
| KRESS: HIS CLIENTS AND HIS ACTIVITIES Saturday, March 5, 2005 By SCOTT PARKS/The Dallas Morning News Education adviser to President George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 campaigns. Played key role in helping Mr. Bush push the No Child Left Behind law through Congress. Consultant to Council of Chief State School Officers, an association of state education commissioners. Mr. Kress advises them on how to implement No Child Left Behind's requirement that all states set up accountability systems based on high-stakes test scores. Consultant to the Business Roundtable, a Washington D.C.-based consortium of chief executives of major American companies. The organization has been active in education issues for many years. Co-founder of the Texas Education Reform Caucus. TERC was created as an advisory committee for state Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, chairman of the Public Education Committee in the Texas House of Representatives. Adviser, consultant and lobbyist for Pearson Education, a worldwide company that publishes textbooks and runs high-stakes test programs in Texas and other states. Lobbyist for Kaplan, a division of The Washington Post Co. Kaplan provides a wide range of educational products and services. It first made its mark in the test-preparation industry. Lobbyist for The Teaching Commission, a New York-based think tank started by Louis V. Gerstner Jr., chairman of The Carlyle Group, a private global investment firm. The Teaching Commission advocates more rigorous teacher-training programs and paying them based on merit rather than seniority. Consultant to the Governor's Business Council, a group of Texas business leaders that have recommended a wide-ranging list of changes to public education law in Texas. Charles McMahen, a retired Houston banker, chairs the council. Lobbyist for Texas Businesses for Excellence in Education. The group hired Mr. Kress to help get the Governor's Business Council recommendations into Texas law. It advocates stricter sanctions for schools that are judged "low-performing" based on high-stakes test scores. Houston investor Charles Miller and San Antonio businessman H.B. Zachry Jr. are involved in this group. Former lobbyist for K12, which in 2003 unsuccessfully pushed the Texas Legislature to publicly fund so-called virtual charter schools. K12 sells curricula that home-schoolers can get over the Internet. William J. Bennett, a former U.S. secretary of education, is a director of the company. Mr. Kress says he no longer works for K12. Former lobbyist for Community Education Partners. Under contract with school districts, the company runs alternative campuses for problem students who have been kicked out of regular classrooms. Mr. Kress says he has not worked for CEP since 1999. SOURCES: Texas Ethics Commission, Sandy Kress and Dallas Morning News research. |
| TAS/MUS golf tourney Boerne, Texas (04/20/07) |
| Remember the golfing supes on TAKS testing day? Sandy Kress' client Pearson was a sponsor. Curious who rode in the cart with the Pearson rep? |
| July 4, 2007: Have this morning asked Johnny Veselka (TASA executive director), Marvin Crawford (TAS/MUS executive director) and Rhonda Crass (TAS/MUS attorney) who was paired with the Pearson rep April 20 in Boerne. Will post their response(s) if and when. |
| Jim Nelson, Voyager and rider 51(a) Another reason to be concerned about an education commission er with ties to education vendors? By Peyton Wolcott Thursday, July 5, 2007/9:09 am |
| Rider 51(a) of the 2004-05 Legislative Appropriations Act (House Bill 1) passed by the 78th Texas Legislature in 2003 allocates funds for intensive reading instruction and intervention programs. These funds are designated to serve those schools exhibiting the most difficulty in improving reading achievement for students in Kindergarten through Grade 4 in 2004 and Kindergarten through Grade 5 in 2005. In response to this legislative mandate, TEA developed and released a Request for Qualifications, (RFQ) #701-04-017, which solicited such programs from potential intervention providers. Based on the review and scoring process, the Voyager Universal System for Grades K-3, and the Voyager Passport System for Grades 4-5, were approved by TEA. |
| New! 2007 Modern Minutemen |
| TEA letter dated June 8, 2004: TO THE ADMINISTRAT OR ADDRESSED: SUBJECT: CAMPUS ELIGIBILITY FOR INTENSIVE READING FUNDS |
and you most certainly can't be named to any committees which have anything to do with sending business to your clients. That door is forever and appropriately closed. Your life is not over. You can count your money and your "private sector contributions," as Sandy Kress puts it, and be the biggest and loudest cheerleader on campus for your edu-vendor clients. Hooray. |
| TEA INSPECTOR GENERAL'S 06/15/07 REPORT Questions: Motive? Timing? And just who are these TEA inspectors general? Peyton Wolcott - Wednesday, July 11, 2007/5:05 am |
| Interim TEA commissioner Robert Scott (PHOTO/Harry Cabluck-AP) |
| "Critical ed agency report cites wrong man--Two men, one name mixed up in contracting investigation" --Friday, July 6, 2007 Austin American-Statesma n headline |
| Oops. According to AAS reporter Jason Embrey, Austin lawyer Emily Miller said she negotiated her $100,000 contract with Robert Scott of the Waco Education Service Center, not with the Robert Scott who is deputy TEA commissioner--who is "working on a detailed written response that will show that 'there are serious factual errors contained throughout the report,' such as some misstated agency policies." The most immediate known fallout of the report is that Shirley's lifelong friend Jimmy Wynn's contract with the Gates Foundation has suddenly ended. . Oops. |
| Boomerang? Did Shirley Neeley's parting shot at TEA chief deputy com- missioner Robert Scott boomerang? |
| You know those emails you get that look like they've gone halfway to China and back, judging by the number of >>>'s? Here's one of the most frequently received: |
| Michael Crichtonspeaks eloquently about what it is to be a parent after observing that graduates of the childbirthing class he and his wife were attending had somehow changed once babies were born; parenthood was a door, Crichton said, that once you went through you could never go back through. |
| Education lobbying and aligning yourself financially with edu-vendors is a similar door. It is a door that the Dallas-area reigning edu-royalty -- Mike Moses, Jim Nelson and Bill Ratliff -- long ago crossed. Once you've made money, bought your million-dollar home in no small part on the backs of other folks' property taxes, you can't go back through. You can't be education commissioner, you can't be appointed to the state board of education, you can't be named SBOE chair, |
| When the TEA inspector general's report was released during Shirley Neeley's last week in office--even though it was dated two weeks earlier and by all accounts had been completed at least two full months earlier and had been sitting on Shirl's desk waiting to be delivered--the fireworks which may have been the intent went off early then fizzled, no doubt because of all the rain we've been getting. The truth will always out in such matters, and here's this morning's headline: |
| The solid gold standard: Bill Raliff, Mike Moses,JimNelson |
| >>>Hell hath >>>no fury >>>like a >>>woman >>>scorned. |
| A test of our character is how we react to winning. We don't always know how to win graciously. But we are all aware of how important a test our losses are. They reveal the mettle of which we are made. |
| Some of our news outlets around the state appear to have been uncharacter- istically quick to rush to judgment and to raise serious questions about interim TEA commissioner Robert Scott's leadership--without apparently having taken an equal and measured look at the folks in the TEA Inspector General's office who produced what has been called a "shoddy" "rough draft" regarding TEA's contracts process. (See greybars at right) |
| corruption went into overdrive and our already troubled public education system came to be 100% vendor-driven. It might be appropriate here to point out that our friend Sandy Kress (at right) also served on the 1993 select committee which paved the way for the 1995 Review of the Central Education Agency, Select something puzzles me in public education: there is going to be an equal reaction. have been a rush to judgment about Robert Scott -- without a corresponding look at either TEA Inspector General Michael Donley or Deputy Inspector General James "Jim" Catazaro, the two folks most mentioned with regard to the June 15,2007 TEA Inspector General report. Why is this important? TEA Inspector General o Who is TEA Inspector General Michael Donley? Who hired him PW: MENTION ACCOUNTABILITY Let me see if I understand this. TEA has done an audit of Cleburne ISD; there are some pretty serious charges and it makes sense that Cleburne supe Robert Damron and his staff have an opportunity to respond to TEA's initial findings before the audit is released to the rest of the world. TEA has also looked at its own contract-awarding process recently, but the rules appear to have shifted. |
| One: Follow the money Following the money just about always clears up everything, every time. Ever since Bill Ratliff's 1995 rewrite of the education code--the so-called reforms where power was taken away from elected school boards and given to their employee the superintendent, and boards were told supes could do whatever they wanted so long as they met the board's policies--with little or no real oversight over the "big pots |
| Bill Ratliff PHOTO/America nStatesman) |
| Two: Newton's third law of physics. As Isaac Newton observed, for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction. When the Texas Education Agency's check- book went online February 1--a bold move, the first of its kind in the nation for which we can thank Gov. Rick Perry and Robert Scott--there was bound to be pushback by the supes. Who could blame the supes? They'd had a dozen years with virtually no supervision, years |
| Scott--the timing of which appears to have directly coincided with former edu-missioner Shirley Neeley's exiting the building? GOV. PERRY - WHEN INSTITUTED INSP. GEN. IN ALL STATE AGENCIES - IT WAS NOT TO GO AFTER THEIR BOSS BUT THERE _____________________________ TGHUIS IS ALL COMING UP BECAUSE EDUCATION, ICN. - THE EDU.CATION BLOB -- KNOWS SCOTT WILL PRESS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY -- CHECK REGISTERS ONLINE - 65^ IN THE CLASSROOM ISD'S NEED TO DEMONSTRATE WHY THEY'RE THERE NOT TO MOVE AROUND PIECES OF PAPER BUT TO LEARN Are you as puzzled as I am about the timing of the Inspector General's report? After all, its formal date, even though the inspector general's office says it's a rough draft, is the same exact day Shirley formally learned from Gov. Rick Perry that she would not be reappointed commissioner? Gee, does that pass any kind of smell test? turning to the same two basic tenets to which I always turn whenever something bewildering happens in public education. |
| of taxpayer money" as Scott Parks of the Dallas Morning News puts it, the culture of corruption in our vendor-driven schools went into overdrive. |
| registers online? |
| The big deal about putting checks online is this: Online check registers give parents and taxpayers the keys to the sausage factory. Some sausage is great, and some needs reworking. With vendor-driven curriculums, not only do you get shoddy education programs, things like fuzzy math and whole language instruction where kids don't learn to read, they're also very expensive. In addition to an abundance of specialized materials, there are trainings, both away, involving stays at expensive hotels, and at the school district, which means putting the trainers up at expensive hotels. There are seminars and awards programs. And with districts' check registers online, parents and taxpayers can finally see how much all of these programs cost. |
| filled with outings with vendors such as the Texas Association of Suburban/Mid-Urban Schools' Boerne tourney below last April on Friday of TAKS testing week, travel across the U.S., $900 steak dinners, stays at luxury hotels, God only knows what else. |
| Innovations under Gov. Rick Perry's and Robert Scott's leadership Aug. 2005 - Gov. Perry signs Executive Order RP 47; public schools are told to put 65% of their funds in the classroom with school children and teachers, specifying the NCES formula. Then- commissioner Shirley Neeley immediately dilutes the formula by inviting superintendents to help write a new formula; the result is so generous to supes it can be said anyone not making the 65% goal by the targeted 2008-09 school year would have to have folks leaving the district in pickup trucks filled with either cash or copper tubing. As one option, districts not meeting the 65% goal by 2008-09 can put their check registers online in 2010; as of July 2007 at least 43 Texas school districts--including the largest, Houston and Dallas--have elected to put their check registers online, in some cases such as Dallas, 4 years ahead of schedule. Already at least three other states have followed Texas' leadership--Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota--and Miami public schools among others are taking a serious look at putting their checks online. Jan. 2007 - Chief deputy education commissioner Robert Scott announces TEA is in the process of putting its check register online. Many of us are so used to hearing grand pronouncements from education leaders--"a world class school for a world class city (pop. 2500)!"--which they never stick around long enough to fulfill that we roll our eyes and go on about our business. Feb. 1, 2007 - Just as Scott promised, TEA's past five months of checks go online, complete with check numbers. "We're putting more up," he said. Today - All of TEA's checks written during 2007 are now online, sorted by alphabet and listed by first names. For example, the $2,342.24 in checks written to Shirley Neeley last year would be under "S": www.tea.state.tx.us/tea/check/fy 07/J.html And as another example the $1,109.19 in checks written last year to deputy inspector general James Catazaro would be under "J"using the same URL formula: www.tea.state.tx.us/tea/check/fy 07/J.html (July 10, 2007) |
| To his credit, earlier this week Jason Embrey of the Austin American States- man reported TEA Inspector General |
| Dallas ISD exec Antonio "Tony" Valdez (R) with vendor at NM edu-conference (PHOTO/ RickScibelli/NY Times) |
| Hats off to The New York Times Admittedly, many of us have raised a lot of questions regarding how taxpayer dollars get spent in public schools. Scott Parks of The Dallas Morning News did seminal reporting three years ago this month when he traveled to Rancho Mirage to do a story on Mike Moses' participation in ERDI edu-conferences where school superinten-dents "hobnob" with vendors in resort settings; you have seen my own commentaries on ERDI and other edu-conferences through the years, most recently the golf course photos from April's TAS/MUS "Boerne |
| tourney" (for you non-Texans, this rhymes) during TAKS testing week. And just yesterday Alan Finder in the New York Times took a closer look (above) at education conferences. |
| Texas and OK supes golfing with vendors at TAS/MUS April 20, 2007 |
| Inspector General Michael J. Donley Yes, it's true that Donley graduated from Harvard Law School--but only three years ago. And he got his law license just over 2 1/2 years ago. No, Gov. Perry did not appoint him. As part of the gover- nor's statewide initi- ative to make gov- ernmental bodies more accountable to taxpayers, he author- ized the largest to establish inspector general offices. Shirley Neeley appointed Donley; the position was not posted. $100,000 salary jump then a $93,500 pay cut? According to Don- ley's TEA employ- ment application, his salary for three months of work--his apparent sole employment during three years of law school--was one three-month stint as a summer associate for which he was paid "$80,000"; his next stop was a small firm in Dallas at $182,000 then an almost 50% pay cut to come to Austin to work for Shirley Neeley at TEA for $88,500. |
| Let's take a closer look at TEA Inspector General Michael J. Donley and Deputy Inspector General James Catazaro |
| Deputy Insp. Gen. James "Jim" L. Catazaro Yes, Jim Catazaro is also a lawyer; here's an ad from Joynes & Gaidies, his former employer in Virginia: |
| Free Consultation: If you, or someone you care about, has suffered injuries due to the fault of another, contact our law firm for an 'instant' FREE and CON- FIDENTIAL case evaluation by completing our online consultation form. Attorneys 'Mike' Joynes or Jim Catazaro will personally provide detailed and comprehensive answers to your important questions by reviewing your completed questionnaire, evaluating your claim and responding to you, either by e-mail or telephone, within 24 hours. Or, if you prefer, call The Joynes & Gaidies Law Group. P.C. at 800/989-4529. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We will answer your questions, without charge, and there is no obligation to use our services. www.joyneslaw.com/testimonials.htm |
| More from Catazaro's former employer Joynes: |
| Injured? We can help! Stop Wage Garnishment - Stop Evictions - Stop Bill Collector Calls - Stop Foreclosures. |
| Did Donley know Catazaro before TEA? As both worked in USAF security during 1992-1994, it seems fair to ask the men to confirm or deny that they knew each other before TEA, especial- ly given that the thrust of their June 15 report appears to have been charges that their new boss Robert Scott hired his friends. Will post any response(s). All over the map Catazaro obtained an associate degree in Alabama then a BS in Colorado before graduating from Ohio's University of Dayton School of Law which features 2-year law degrees. He did PR and gang intelligence and was a deputy sheriff in Colorado; and took a cut in pay when he moved from Virginia ($100,000, the job after Joynes) to Austin where before coming to TEA he chaired the Austin Business College legal department at $38,000 per year. Catazaro's TEA position was publicly posted as Manager IV, starting pay about $55,000 per year; the posting specifies: |
| Experience assuring the quality and accuracy of work produced by others. |
| Donley also mobile His undergrad was in Nebraska, then on to Masachusetts for law school, then a summer job in Missouri, then Dallas then Austin. |
| Michael Donley's having received a generous raise from former edu-missioner Shirley Neeley on her way out the door, the date coinciding, Jason points out, with the date Shirley learned Gov. Perry was not going to reappoint her: June 20. |
Developing . . . |
Developing . . . |
| "Robert Scott is an innovative education leader." --Gov. Rick Perry |
| Top photo: Austin American- Statesman |
| Follow the money and Newton's third law of physics Texas superintendents, thanks to Bill Ratliff's rewrite of the education code in 1995, have gotten used to a climate in which they have been free to operate with little or no real oversight. Yes, we still have the myth of local control, but so long as elected school board members are allowed to do business legally with their school districts, those trustees are compromised, as are the trustees who accept travel and meal reim- bursements; they simply are not going to be in a position to ask tough accountability questions of their supes. So when TEA led the way for school districts to become more transparent by posting its own check register online, there was bound to be pushback. |