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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ATTENTION EDUCATORS AND ADMINISTRATORS:
Every attempt possible has been made to verify all sources and information.   In the event you feel an error has been made, please contact us immediately.  Thank you.
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
www.tea.state.tx.us/tea/
CheckRegister.html
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:
Google
"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
www.peytonwolc
ott.com/CheckRe
gisterNewsThrou
gh031407.html
UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE
Austin
American-
Statesman
March 23, 2007
Credit Cards
About
Contact
Former Bremond ISD supe
Technology
Subscribe
THE  BIG PICTURE
Public Records
Pass the Trash
Reader  Questions  &  Answers
SLAPP suit
Plea Bargain
Sentencing
Bremond ISD
Edgewood ISD
Education , Inc.
ERDI
HB 2264
Team of 8
Edu-Monopoly
AZ County Supes
CA County Supe
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
Archives
2006 in Review
Practical steps:    How to Organize    95 Questions    How to ask for public records
Conferences
Modern Minutemen
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
Supes golfing (TAKS week)  1  2  3
_______________
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"
TAS/MUS scrapbook
golfing pix here
1     2     3
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
com
missioners. 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
Crichton
speaks
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.