| 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 . |
| P E Y T O N W O L C O T T |
| Should Sandy Kress be TEA commissioner? (Updated July 4, 2007) |
How we take back our children's education: one person, one question, one school at a time. |
| FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of education issues vital to a republic. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Chapter 1, Section 107 which states: the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright," the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use" you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. |
| 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 |
| C o n s e r v a t i v e C o m m e n t a r y - TEXAS EDU-MISSIONER CANDIDATES |
REMEMBER: Our public schools are essentially socialist models and their engine and currency is the realm of emotions and people skills. |
| Former Bremond ISD supe |
| THE BIG PICTURE |
| Public Records |
| Sentencing |
| Bremond ISD |
| Practical steps: How to Organize 95 Questions How to ask for public records |
_______________
| On May 31, 2007 former Bremond ISD supe Kenny Johnson's parole was denied by the Texas penal system (Sheriff Dep't/mug shot) |
| Remember Dallas ISD's tech guy Ruben Bohuchot's use of vendor's"Sir Veza"? It's been-- forgive us -- "Rehabbed." |
| Parole denied 05/31/07; courts used parents' public records |
| You're Gov. Perry for a day: Your pick for Texas' next edu- missioner is ____? By Peyton Wolcott Monday, June 25, 2007/1:08 am Updated Monday, July 2, 2007/Noon 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. Newest nominees as of July 2: Bill Ratliff and John Stevens; Ratliff was endorsed by his friends at the Austin American-Statesman.. |
| 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 would like to see kept as far away from public education as legally possible. |
| Bill Hammond |
| The organized business commun- ity appears to be pushing Sandy Kress, Bill Ham- mond, Ric William- son and Kent Grusendorf. Austin insiders say Cy-Fair's David Anthony (at right) has never really been in the running and that his and San Antonio's John Folk's and Dallas' MikeHinojosa's 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 or the newest candidate, Bill Ratliff. |
| 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 inability to pull the Lege into agreement on public school financing. His relentless pushing of taxpayer- funded laptops for all students didn't help either. His being unseated by Diane Patrick, a former teacher considered to be a friend of public schools can hardly make him an attractive candidate for Texas Commissioner of Education. Putting someone so out of touch with the populace, including teachers, in charge of TEA seems not wise. |
| 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. |
| According to Texas Ethic Commission public records, Sandy Kress will receive as much as $149,999.99 this year from "Texans for Excellence in Education." |
| MISC- ELLANY |
| My question to Sandy Kress 06/22/07 |
| Sandy, can you tell me please why you have sent your son...to a private prep school...rather than to Austin ISD schools? Why I ask: Your name is being mentioned as a serious contender for Texas Commissioner of Education. Your statement can be however long you wish. If it's too long I may need to edit. Thank you, and wishing you all the best. |
| None. |
| S.K. Response |
| My questions to Sandy Kress 06/22/07 |
| Sandy, left a message for you regarding the following four main areas this afternoon on your Austin office voice mail; these are for my commentary on Texas education commissioner candidates: 1. Why have you sent your son . . . to a private prep school ( . . . ) rather than to Austin ISD schools? Wouldn't it be an important thing for the commissioner of public education in Texas to send his/her children to public schools? Especially for someone who appears to have profited financially from U.S. public schools to the extent you have? 2. Statement please regarding Akin Gump's involvement with the unfolding scandal in New Orleans Public Schools (former NOPS bd. pres. Ellenese Brooks-Simms and JRL) -- given that Akin Gump lobbies for JRL. Do you feel that your and/or your firm's involvement with JRL will hamper Gov. Perry's push for accountability as evidenced by, for one recent example, his requiring TEA and other state agencies to post their check registers online? 3. Statement please regarding the emerging issue of set-asides/ earmarks in public education and your connection to events surrounding Voyager and Rider 51(a) (HB 1, 78th Regular); also, whether here again you think this might be a problem given Gov. Perry's strong expressed interest in accountability. Here's my cell number ( . . . ) although as I'm having problems with it, would be better to respond via return email. Thank you, and wishing you all the best. |
| None. |
| Sandy, in the spirit of fairness, on previous occasions I have contacted via telephone and email in order to give you multiple opportunities to respond to various published facts and assertions; to date you have not yet responded to any of my queries. In the event that perhaps you have been busy or perhaps out of the country for the past week, I am contacting you again. Although I would prefer to interview you face to face, in the interests of time and convenience email seems the best venue. Because your name continues to surface as a possible candidate for Texas Commissioner of Education it is vital for Texas parents, taxpayers and schoolchildren that you respond to several situations such as your name apparently being pushed by the business community for this position despite the fact that although you have made what many would consider to be a fortune from public schools your own son has attended a private prep school; surely you must realize that somehow in egalitarian America this doesn't sit right with many. At the very least you have the right to respond to others' published reports. It may well be that you have proof that some if not all published assertions below regarding you and your activities are incorrect. However, in the absence of any response from you, all we have are those published assertions by others. Hard to imagine that someone who makes a great deal of money from lobbying -- the ultimate PR profession -- would see a failure to respond in such a situation as being either good or effective PR practice. Also, it is troubling to think that someone who may possibly be Texas' highest education official will not answer basic questions presented on multiple occasions regarding his financial and other dealings. Seven questions: 1. In 1995 you told future Dallas mayor Laura Miller regarding Dallas ISD that "we really do have a chance to become a first-class urban school system and it wouldn't take a lot to get there. Just a modicum of racial understanding. Just a modicum of business leadership. Just a modicum of community commitment. Just a modicum of responsibility on the part of the media." Dallas ISD is still very far from reaching the goal of being a first- class urban school system and indeed aside from its academic problems has also been rocked by various scandals including a recent FBI investigation into DISD's technology spending and $71.5 million in apparently unsupervised credit card expenditures over a three-year period. Further, given the timing, the suggestion is that racial slurs on some tapes were apparently the cause of your decision to not seek an additional term on the DISD board -- before Dallas ISD reached your goal of its becoming a first-class urban school system. (SOURCE--Laura Miller/The Dallas Observer) Question: If you were not able to successfully bring together the Dallas ISD school board with its divisive racial issues, how can it be reasonably expected that you would be able to succeed with an entire state where those issues are far more complex? Could it be reasonably expected that if things get tough while you were Commissioner of Education for the great state of Texas that you would drop out before achieving your goals for Texas also? 2. Regarding Rider 51(a) during the 78th Regular Legislature to HB 1 (the "Voyager Rider"), what role if any did you play in placing the Voyager Rider in that legislation? It has been suggested from many quarters that you are the person most likely to have been responsible for this rider which had subsequent enormous financial benefits for those involved. For more information, see Susan Barnes' June 8, 2004 letter* below. 3. Regarding this 2005 article below from Scott Parks at the Dallas Morning News, at the time Scott wrote this article, your two children were in public schools. (a) Why did you put your son in a private prep school afterwards? Is it possible that the changes you have brought to Texas public schools haven't worked after all? Do you believe that Austin ISD's public schools's are not appropriate and/or good enough for your son and if so why not? Please respond as to whether the following are correct or false: (b) Carolyn Boyle's statement: "[Sandy Kress is] really this highly paid hired gun who opens up education markets for big companies." Correct or false. (c) Compilation by 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. Correct or false. 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. Correct or false. 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. Correct or false. 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. Correct or false. Adviser, consultant and lobbyist for Pearson Education, a worldwide company that publishes textbooks and runs high-stakes test programs in Texas and other states. Correct or false. 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. Correct or false. 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. Correcct or false. 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. Correct or false. 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. Correct or false. 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. Correct or false. 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. Correct or false. 4. Regarding this 2005 article below by Emily Pyle from The Texas Observer -- which continues to surface from various sources -- please respond to the following excerpts: (a) $4 million from NCLB-related lobbying "Kress has been teaching businesses to turn a profit helping schools meet the mandates of No Child Left Behind. In the process, 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." True or false? Is this number too low as two years have elapsed since this report was published? (b) Pearson President "Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law in January 2002. Five months later, Kress registered with the U.S. Secretary of the Senate as a lobbyist for NCS Pearson. Kress specializes in helping his clients tailor themselves to the requirements of No Child Left Behind, something Pearson has done with startling success. A publishing conglomerate that owns The Financial Times and Penguin Books, Pearson had been a bit player in the education market, concentrating on the scoring of standardized tests. In 2000, however, Pearson acquired National Computer Systems, the company that held the contract for designing and scoring the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Since then, Pearson has built an accountability empire of sorts, becoming the third-largest testing company in the country." True or false? (c) Educational Testing Services "Another of Kress’s clients, Educational Testing Services, Inc., also made a sudden market surge in the wake of No Child Left Behind. A non-profit best known as the publisher of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), ETS stayed clear of the commercial testing business for nearly 50 years. Beginning with the spin-off of for-profit subsidiary K-12 Works in 2000, however, ETS has aggressively pursued state testing contracts. The company now holds contracts with New Jersey, Indiana, and the plum of the state testing market, California. ETS also offers a professional development program for teachers and one of the few tests so far available to certify teaching aides." True or false? (d) Kaplan "Another Kress client, Kaplan, Inc., which formerly specialized in prepping students for college entrance exams, now offers a variety of test- related services. These include prep courses tailored to the standardized tests in 13 states and the District of Columbia, “Intervention” programs targeting low-scoring students with skill-drilling software, and professional development courses in which, for roughly $1,000 an hour, Kaplan specialists give teachers tips on how to coach their students to pass the test." True or false? (e) HOSTS Learning "Kress also lobbies for HOSTS Learning, which publishes online testing tools and an associated line of curricular materials and for Kumon North America, a rising star in the brand-new after-school tutoring market." True or false? (f) Community Education Partners "Other clients include Community Education Partners, a for-profit school management company that runs alternative campuses for students with disciplinary problems, as well as companies that help schools and districts collect, manage, and report the volume of data required by No Child Left Behind." True or false? (g) "Texas miracle" a sham "A mounting body of evidence suggests the 'Texas miracle' Sandy Kress used to sell accountability to the country is a sham . . . . Almost two out of five Texas high school students never earn a high school diploma, according to a report released this year by the Intercultural Development Research Association, which has tracked Texas dropout rates since 1986. IDRA’s report showed that in 2004, 36 percent of students who were freshman in 2001 were gone by last spring’s graduation ceremonies. That number is down slightly from previous years, but still higher than it was 20 years ago." True or false? (h) Texas college entrance scores down "Despite the emphasis accountability supporters put on 'narrowing the achievement gap,' state scores on college entrance exams show minority students losing ground since the tests were instituted. Fewer Texas high school students are taking the SAT and ACT now than 10 years ago, data from the Texas Education Agency shows, and on average they are scoring worse. The average score on the SATs for Latino students has fallen 17 points since 1996. The average score of black students has also drifted down, from 852 in 1996 to 843 in 2003." True or false? 5. Regarding the Education Research & Development Institute ("ERDI"), from the above list(s) of your clients it appears that at least Pearson and Kaplan were also ERDI clients. Would you please speak to the ERDI concept and your clients' role in using ERDI? Which if any ERDI conferences did you attend? More about ERDI here www.peytonwolcott.com/ERDI.html 6. Regarding No Child Left Behind, for many of us, its most serious hole is that the states have been able to determine their own tests. "Federal law requires that students be tested annually to determine their reading and math skills but leaves it to each state to devise the exam. The result, critics say, is that some states make their tests easier so it appears that their students are doing well. The evidence: huge gaps between state results and scores on national standardized tests." (SOURCE--Claudia Wallis, Sonja Steptoe/Time Magazine) Richard Innes of the Kentucky Bluegrass Institute points out that, "The people who run the NAEP have released their own report. It shows the rates of proficiency on state tests are generally far higher than the rates shown by the NAEP. The news papers are loosing [sic] no time in interpreting this new federal report – the conclusion: the states are trying to game NCLB by lowering standards on their state tests." (a) Why was NCLB created with this hole in place? (b) In the event that you were not aware of this hole not, why were you not aware of such provisions? (c) Statement please regarding the Reading First scandals; if you would prefer to have "Reading First scandals" further defined before responding, please let me know. 7. Regarding your role in the writing of the TAAS/TEKS, why did you disregard grade-level specific standards in favor of subjective standards? Please respond to these two statements from retired Texas teacher Donna Garner who was appointed by President Reagan and reappointed by President Bush to the National Commission on Migrant Education and an American Association of Educators advisory member: (a) "The fallacy of having states create subjectively graded tests." (b) " 'Back in the ’90s when we Texas Alternative Document writers were trying to get the governor’s office to realize the importance of grade- level-specific standards based upon academic knowledge, all [Miller and Kress] could understand was spreadsheets,' Garner said. 'These people never did realize that you can’t make students and teachers accountable unless they know to what they are being held accountable.' Now, she said, that same mentality pervades Bush’s national educational initiatives." (SOURCE--Betty Brink/Fort Worth Weekly) Thank you for your anticipated courtesy of a response. If/where you assert that any of foregoing is incorrect, I would appreciate any factual information you have to support your assertion(s). Wishing you all the best -- Peyton Wolcott ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ May 13, 2005 — Features Te$t Market - High-stakes tests aren't good for students, teachers, or schools. So who are they good for? BY EMILY PYLE The Texas Observer A committee hearing in the basement of the Texas Capitol on February 28 offered a glimpse of what the next phase of public school reform in this country might look like. The House Public Education Committee heard testimony on House Bill 2, an omnibus school finance and reform package. If the bill passes and Texas continues to serve as a national blueprint for school reform, the rest of the country should brace for more tests, with more riding on those tests than ever. The new legislation would inject additional “accountability” into public education, this time by expanding standardized testing in high schools, and tying funding, including teacher salaries, to performance on state exams. Those proposals aren’t popular in many quarters. Eighteen people representing teachers, administrators, parents, and public school advocates testified against the bill. They asked for fewer testing mandates and more public school funding. The critics of the bill are part of a growing movement against the Texas education model, enshrined in the landmark federal law No Child Left Behind. Opponents say the current focus on testing degrades education and drains resources from the neediest schools. Only one witness testified in favor of the bill. There was a small stir as Sandy Kress came to the microphone; in gatherings like this, he is something of a celebrity. Ten years ago, public school accountability was a vague, unenforceable ideal from free market enthusiasts who wanted to see schools run more like businesses. Kress, a Dallas lawyer, was serving what would be his last, tumultuous term as president of the Dallas school board. Fellow board members were calling the newspaper to denounce him as a racist and a bully. The fortunes of the reform movement and of Kress have risen together. He is one of the principal designers of No Child Left Behind, and has used his knowledge and connections to earn millions as a high-powered lobbyist for test publishers. Despite the lack of an endorsement from any major Texas education group, passage of HB 2 out of the committee was a foregone conclusion. Accountability, with its powerful allies, seems unstoppable. Its supporters are free market reformers who say test scores bring a needed dose of reality to lazy educational bureaucracies. Others are education reformers who believe that the best hope for poor and minority students lies in the public humiliation of their “low-performing” schools. And a select few enrich themselves supplying the demand public school reform has created for tests, and the tools it takes to pass them. Kress appears to be all of the above. “A decade earlier, Texas was going backwards,” Kress told the committee. “Graduation rates were going down. Our minority youngsters were going nowhere.” Now, he insisted, because of accountability, schools are better. The committee should go further, and faster—more tests, shorter deadlines, tougher standards. It was a radically different perspective than that voiced by other witnesses. Of course, unlike other witnesses, Kress was not lobbying on behalf of schools, teachers, or students, but a coalition of business interests who have pushed their version of school reform in Texas for more than a decade. Kress can be an appealing witness—unusually alert and impassioned, with a voice that readily conveys sincerity in the faintest of Dallas inflections. He champions cash incentives for teachers who improve student test scores, but says they should be used primarily to draw talented teachers into the poorest schools. (Business groups use incentives as a means to side-step blanket pay raises, teachers’ groups say.) Kress plays up the interests of poor and minority students, while soft- pedaling the need for increased funding. Business leaders have thrown themselves foursquare against more money. “I think the business community feels we ought to spend more and more on education,” Kress told the committee. “I think some would be willing to pay more. But I think they all feel very deeply that if they’re going to pay more, they want to see results, they want to see efficiency, they want to see accountability.” HB 2, with its emphasis on test scores and its marginal increases in funding, seemed to be exactly what business leaders wanted. Kress closed with, “Keep up the good work.” Eleven days later, the Texas House of Representatives approved HB 2, and though the Senate has tinkered with the bill’s financing, the testing provisions remain intact. If it seems peculiar that a system so good for business and so hard on public schools should also be packaged as the best answer for “disadvantaged” students, that’s the genius of Sandy Kress. From his days in Dallas to his tenure in the Bush administration, Kress has pushed accountability as the final solution for poor and minority kids stuck in under-performing public schools. Since returning to Austin and high-profile lobbying firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in 2002, Kress has been teaching businesses to turn a profit helping schools meet the mandates of No Child Left Behind. In the process, 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. Kress says his clients share his vision of schools where unequivocal standards make educating every student no longer optional. “When I take on a client, I try to take on people who seem committed to the same goals I have,” says Kress, who agreed to answer interview questions by e-mail. “I expect to be judged by the same standard by which I judge others—has this work contributed to improved educational results for students, particularly disadvantaged students?” It’s a question that’s still very much up for debate. In Dallas in the late eighties, Kress was an anomalous figure, a prominent lawyer involved in local Democratic politics—he was elected to chair the Dallas County Democratic Party in 1986—with strong connections in the local, mainly Republican, business community. “Sandy had close ties to business in Dallas,” says Rene Castilla, former president of the Dallas Independent School District’s board of trustees. “They listened to each other.” It was during Castilla’s term as board president that Kress first began to dabble in school board politics. At the time, Dallas business leaders were worried about the abysmal standardized test scores in the city’s predominantly black schools. “Dallas had a pretty poor reputation for the performance of its schools,” Castilla says. “That didn’t sit well with business. A business community wants to attract new business to the area, and there’s two questions people ask before relocating—housing and schools.” Accountability was an idea then making the rounds among business leaders. Both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton tried to implement national standards for American education, but attempts to enforce the new rules met with complex partisan opposition and by the early nineties the movement had stalled. Business leaders began to suggest the solution was to treat failing schools like failing corporations: Establish clear-cut standards, monitor whether they were met, and either reward the successful or punish the failures. “Just as businesses are results-oriented, so schools must also be,” Lou Gerstner, then CEO of IBM, wrote in his book Reinventing Education in 1994. “Results are not achieved by bureaucratic regulation. They are achieved by meeting customer requirements by rewards for success and penalties for failure. Market discipline is the key, the ultimate form of accountability.” Kress presented accountability to the school board in 1990 as a way to simultaneously raise test scores and win the support of business. To a school board then trying to float a hefty bond issue against business opposition, that sounded like a good deal. The board tapped Kress to head a commission that would shape an accountability system for the district. After months of study, the commission proposed a system that rated schools by their test scores, with schools that showed the most improvement getting cash awards of $5,000 to $10,000. Perhaps most importantly, the system would force schools to disaggregate test scores, keeping administrators from disguising low scores for poor, black, or Latino students by averaging them into the general population. The board unanimously approved the commission’s proposals in 1991. The next year, Kress was elected to the school board with the overwhelming support of influential business leaders, including Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush. “Sandy believed minority kids deserved better than they were getting,” says Castilla, who lost the board presidency to Kress in 1994. “He was very hard-working, very zealous about making a difference.” However, black school board members saw accountability as an attempt to undermine the city’s 1974 desegregation order, which allotted extra money and resources to Dallas’s historically neglected black schools. Kress did torpedo several key components of the desegregation order, heading efforts that slashed more than $15 million from bond proposals for a magnet school in a mostly black part of town. He also sought to limit the money spent on “learning centers” meant to reverse the city’s busing policy by bringing black students back into their own neighborhoods. As board president, Kress brought a hardball style of politics to what had been a sleepy municipal body; black board members accused him of meeting in secret with favored board members and manipulating the board’s committee system to dilute the minority vote. Secretly taped conversations alleged to be between Kress and fellow board member and political ally Dan Peavy supported the accusations. Peavy used racial slurs when describing plans to curb the influence of black board members. Kress’s identity on the tapes was never confirmed, but soon after they came to light in 1995, he announced he would not run for another term as board president. “I have no idea what the next challenge will be,” he told reporters at a press conference in January 1996. “But I am sure there will be one.” He didn’t have long to wait. A year later, Kress moved to Austin, where he already had friends. In 1993, he had worked with Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock on the first draft of the Texas accountability system, which introduced the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test. He had briefed George W. Bush on education policy during his 1994 run against incumbent Ann Richards. Once in Austin, Kress helped Gov. Bush lobby for pet reforms like ending social promotion. As a paid consultant for the Governor’s Business Council, Kress traveled across the state pushing Bush’s education agenda. He also served as a board member of the Texas Business and Education Coalition, and a lobbyist for TBEC’s lobbying arm, Texans for Education. By 1998, Kress was working for Akin Gump. Through the firm, Kress held lobbying contracts for McGraw-Hill, the textbook publishing company that had long-standing personal ties to the Bush family. Kress was one of the architects of the Governor’s Reading Initiative, which eventually landed McGraw-Hill the lion’s share of the Texas textbook market. In 2000, Kress helped Bush craft the education platform that became the centerpiece of “compassionate conservativism” and stumped for Bush’s plan throughout the campaign, telling the story of the “Texas miracle”— rising test scores, happy urban school kids, a bright new future—again and again. When Bush finally secured his victory, he took Kress along with him to Washington, D.C. Once inside the Beltway, Kress played key roles in crafting and passing No Child Left Behind. Officially still a Democrat, he was instrumental in putting together the bipartisan push behind the bill, pulling Democratic lawmakers Ted Kennedy, George Miller, and John Boehner into the president’s court. The law that took shape required states to test every student in the third through eighth grades and once in high school, and publicize the scores. By 2014, all students, including those in special education and those with limited English skills, would have to pass the exam. To that end, the states would establish “adequate yearly progress” or AYP standards. Schools that receive Title I funding—federal aid for schools with high numbers of poor, minority, and at-risk students—would be penalized if they failed to meet the standards for three years running. Kress continued to promise that high-stakes testing would save poor and minority students by drawing attention to their low scores. Some credit Kress as the original coiner of Bush’s “soft bigotry of low expectations”— the catch-phrase now used to lob a subtle accusation of racism and class- ism at anyone who protests that testing mandates are unfair to those same disadvantaged kids. The General Accounting Office predicts states will spend between $1.9 and $5.3 billion a year meeting the testing requirement of the law. But that’s only a fraction of the law’s costs; other provisions are even more expensive— and, to the suddenly burgeoning education industry, even more lucrative. No Child Left Behind requires states to produce “interpretive, descriptive, and diagnostic reports… that allow parents, teachers, and principals to understand and address the specific academic needs of students.” Since few pretend that a standardized test given once a year can do anything so sophisticated, schools are finding they need separate “formative testing programs” to meet the requirement. The formative testing model, according to the test publisher NCS Pearson, is to “teach, assess, report, diagnose, and prescribe.” Pearson, with other publishers, offers a full range of products for every step of the process. Schools with high numbers of low-scoring students have three years to raise their scores before penalties kick in, and those are also expensive. The so-called “choice” provision, with its passing resemblance to vouchers, has attracted media attention, but has proved unpopular so far. The provision allows students at low-performing campuses to transfer to one of their district’s better performing schools, but only about 1 percent of eligible students made the transfer last year, according to data kept by the U. S. Department of Education. Instead, parents are taking advantage of another provision that requires low-performing schools to provide free after- school tutoring services, using a state-approved, “research-based” tutoring program. The law also demands a highly qualified teacher in every classroom by the end of the 2006 school year. Though the definition of “highly qualified” is vague, with states setting their own standards of quality, the requirement has opened up a new market in materials geared toward teachers. Most major publishers now offer professional development products and services, some of which provide general training in pedagogy, but many of which merely train teachers to use another of the publisher’s classroom products. In a time of growing budget crises, few states—let alone districts and schools—have the time or the money to develop the programs that No Child Left Behind makes mandatory, or all but mandatory. That’s where business, and Sandy Kress, come in. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law in January 2002. Five months later, Kress registered with the U.S. Secretary of the Senate as a lobbyist for NCS Pearson. Kress specializes in helping his clients tailor themselves to the requirements of No Child Left Behind, something Pearson has done with startling success. A publishing conglomerate that owns The Financial Times and Penguin Books, Pearson had been a bit player in the education market, concentrating on the scoring of standardized tests. In 2000, however, Pearson acquired National Computer Systems, the company that held the contract for designing and scoring the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Since then, Pearson has built an accountability empire of sorts, becoming the third-largest testing company in the country, behind CTB McGraw-Hill and Harcourt Educational Measurement. NCS Pearson publishes software systems that allow teachers to create, administer, and score “diagnostic” tests that purport to show how well students are learning by demonstrating in part how prepared they are for state tests. Subsidiary Pearson Educational Measurement holds test design contracts in states with large testing programs, like Florida and Texas. Pearson Education, another subsidiary, publishes reading, math, science, art, and music curricula for grades K-12. Other subsidiaries offer online testing, data management services, and professional training for teachers, including an online master’s degree program. The company claims to have at least one product placed in 50,000 schools nationwide. Another of Kress’s clients, Educational Testing Services, Inc., also made a sudden market surge in the wake of No Child Left Behind. A non-profit best known as the publisher of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), ETS stayed clear of the commercial testing business for nearly 50 years. Beginning with the spin-off of for-profit subsidiary K-12 Works in 2000, however, ETS has aggressively pursued state testing contracts. The company now holds contracts with New Jersey, Indiana, and the plum of the state testing market, California. ETS also offers a professional development program for teachers and one of the few tests so far available to certify teaching aides. Another Kress client, Kaplan, Inc., which formerly specialized in prepping students for college entrance exams, now offers a variety of test-related services. These include prep courses tailored to the standardized tests in 13 states and the District of Columbia, “Intervention” programs targeting low- scoring students with skill-drilling software, and professional development courses in which, for roughly $1,000 an hour, Kaplan specialists give teachers tips on how to coach their students to pass the test. Kress also lobbies for HOSTS Learning, which publishes online testing tools and an associated line of curricular materials and for Kumon North America, a rising star in the brand-new after-school tutoring market. Other clients include Community Education Partners, a for-profit school management company that runs alternative campuses for students with disciplinary problems, as well as companies that help schools and districts collect, manage, and report the volume of data required by No Child Left Behind. There’s a lot of money in what’s coming to be known as the assessment market, but most of it is going to the handful of companies, like Pearson, who have successfully built up assessment empires. “The top four or five players in the textbook market are also top players in the testing market,” says Mark Jackson, a senior analyst with Eduventures, a firm which tracks trends in the commercial education market. As the focus on testing intensifies, the test prep materials these companies offer are becoming the standard curriculum, especially in poor schools, where the scores are often lowest, and the pressure to raise them most extreme. “It’s a zero-sum game of financing,” Jackson says. “What fits into the testing model gets bought, and what doesn’t, doesn’t.” But what’s been a boon for a handful of publishers has been a disaster for education, critics say. As pressure to raise scores intensifies, teachers and principals at low-performing schools have found creative ways to raise scores—from encouraging low-scoring students to drop out of school before Test Day to simply erasing and rewriting students’ testing sheets. The most common resort, however, is to drill the reading and math skills covered by the test, to the detriment of other, untested subjects. As an ever-greater percentage of class time goes into test preparation, more money flows to the companies that publish test prep material. The schools under the most pressure are those that educate large populations of poor, minority, and limited-English students. Ninety-nine percent of the kids in the Laredo Independent School District are Latino; ninety-five percent of them come from families below the poverty level. The district’s test scores are consistently low. “These are kids who often don’t speak English, kids without the kinds of experiences that kids elsewhere may have,” says Laredo ISD superintendent Sylvia Bruni. “They come from homes without books. Some don’t have televisions.” They are, in fact, the disadvantaged kids for whom Sandy Kress has been pitching accountability for nearly 15 years. Laredo’s third-grade teachers spent the equivalent of one day a week administering either the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test itself or diagnostic “formative assessment” tests this school year, a district- wide testing inventory found. The inventory didn’t count time spent on test prep, which Bruni says is “almost constant”—extended school days, Saturday test prep classes, and a portion of every class, in every subject, every day. Since individual schools purchase most of their test prep materials themselves, Bruni doesn’t have a district-wide figure on how much money is spent. But she says it’s a large percentage of resources that the district—one of the poorest in the state—can ill afford. “The district spends money, the campuses spend money, the teachers spend money,” Bruni says. “It’s a lot.” Laredo administrators have decided to cut back on practice tests in future years, but the decision is a hard one. Test prep isn’t education, Bruni says, and the time and money spent on it mean that other, more sophisticated curriculum must be dumped. The district is under increasing pressure to raise scores, however. Two of Laredo’s three high schools failed to make adequate yearly progress in 2004, and progress requirements will climb each year. Without extensive drilling, more students will fail the test and the sanctions of No Child Left Behind will kick in. Earlier this year, Laredo ISD joined the National Education Agency’s lawsuit against the Department of Education, challenging the law. “You can’t seem to break the stranglehold,” Bruni says. “The temptation is just to drill. It isn’t meaningful for the kids, but teachers know that the scores will go up.” If tests are over-emphasized, Kress says, teachers and principals themselves are at fault. “Why do administrators allow test prep materials to dominate the curriculum in schools that serve the poor?” he asks. “Damn it, they’re the ones in charge.” Despite protests from districts like Laredo, Kress is pushing for higher stakes, tougher standards, and swifter retribution against schools that don’t make the grade. Kress was the head cheerleader for proposals from the Governor’s Business Council that wound up in HB 2: requiring a passing score on high school exit exams for course credit (and thus graduation), reducing the deadline for improvement from three years to two, and allowing private companies to take over consistently low- performing schools. He has also used his position on the Texas Education Commissioners’ Accountability Advisory Committee to push the Texas Education Agency to toughen its accountability rating system. At an advisory committee meeting in March, Kress laid out a proposal under which the percentage of students who must pass the test before a school is rated “acceptable” would jump by 10 points. Rates would then climb five points a year until 2010, when 100 percent of students must pass the reading exam before a school will be considered acceptable. When other committee members called for a more gradual and realistic stepping-up of the rating system, Kress lost his temper. “He threw a tantrum,” says one fellow committee member. “He had a very ideological perspective, and others were trying to introduce some realism. He seemed to be trying to shout us into doing what he wanted. He’s a charming, agreeable, persuasive guy, but in front of an audience he’s not trying to charm, he’s a bully.” Accountability’s supporters continue to push testing as the surest, fastest solution for the poor kids in weak schools. That a handful of companies are making a killing off accountability, they say, is incidental—just another example of the beauty of the free market system. But a mounting body of evidence suggests the “Texas miracle” Sandy Kress used to sell accountability to the country is a sham. Critics point to Texas’ rising dropout rates and flagging scores on college entrance exams as signs that test-prep- centered teaching is taking its toll on kids—especially those who are black, Latino, or poor. Almost two out of five Texas high school students never earn a high school diploma, according to a report released this year by the Intercultural Development Research Association, which has tracked Texas dropout rates since 1986. IDRA’s report showed that in 2004, 36 percent of students who were freshman in 2001 were gone by last spring’s graduation ceremonies. That number is down slightly from previous years, but still higher than it was 20 years ago. Attrition rates are highest among minorities, the IDRA report shows, and the gap is growing. In 1986, 27 percent of Anglo students left school without graduating. Last year, Anglo students’ attrition was down to 22 percent, while rates for black students had climbed from 34 to 44 percent, and for Latinos from 45 to 49 percent. The report estimates dropouts have cost the state $500 billion over the past two decades in lost productivity and in the costs of social services, courts, and jails. Dr. Albert Cortez, director of IDRA’s Institute of Policy and Leadership, is quick to point out that Texas’ dropout trouble predates high-stakes testing. But the tests, far from being a solution, have become part of the problem, he says. Narrowed curriculum bores and daunts some students into dropping out. Students who don’t think they’ll pass the high school test—a requirement for graduation—may stop going to school. Other researchers, including Dr. Angela Valenzuela of the University of Texas and Rice education professor Linda McNeil, say administrators under pressure to raise test scores may push potentially low-scoring students to drop out before the exam. Despite the emphasis accountability supporters put on “narrowing the achievement gap,” state scores on college entrance exams show minority students losing ground since the tests were instituted. Fewer Texas high school students are taking the SAT and ACT now than 10 years ago, data from the Texas Education Agency shows, and on average they are scoring worse. The average score on the SATs for Latino students has fallen 17 points since 1996. The average score of black students has also drifted down, from 852 in 1996 to 843 in 2003. Only Anglo students show slight improvement, from 1043 to 1051. Sandy Kress knows the data on high schools isn’t good. His solution is more tests. The gains tests bring in elementary and middle schools are lost in high school, Kress says, because high schools aren’t held accountable. Here in Texas, Kress has agitated to extend standardized testing to high schools. “We still are not where we need to be in terms of college-going rates, particularly for poor and minority kids,” Kress says. “That’s what this secondary school focus is all about. We still have some schools that perform pitifully without consequence.” And if the teaching curriculum has narrowed to suit the demands of the test, Kress says the answer is to test more. “This will make some testing critics cringe, but one thing the accountability system can do with the narrowness problem is have more subjects tested,” he says. Testing critics do indeed cringe when they imagine what history, science, and art will look like broken down into manageable, multiple-choice, worksheet-length bites. Worse, a recent report by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice suggests No Child Left Behind is exporting Texas-style testing scandals to the rest of the country: In New York, school administrators have been accused of pushing thousands of low-scoring students into high school equivalency programs, where, although they never earn diplomas, they don’t count as dropouts. In North Carolina, eight out of ten elementary school teachers say they spend more than 20 percent of class time preparing for tests. Reports of cheating by principals and teachers have surfaced in more than 20 states. Bush’s proposed education budget for 2006 echoes Texas’ planned expansion of testing. The bulk of the president’s High School Initiative is $1.24 billion in “research-based interventions” for students at risk of failing the new tests. Few districts have such interventional programs; even fewer know how to go about designing and implementing them. Luckily, most test- publishers already offer their own versions. The jury is still out on whether the tests are good for kids, and whether more tests will be better. But they will be very, very good for business. And, of course, they’ll be good for Sandy Kress. Emily Pyle is a freelance reporter based in Austin. ========================================= * June 8, 2004 TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED: SUBJECT: CAMPUS ELIGIBILITY FOR INTENSIVE READING FUNDS 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. Campus eligibility for this program was determined in two ways. The first determination was according to the passing rates on the 2003 Grade 3 Reading TAKS. Those campuses with passing rates less than the state average and not eligible for Cycle 1, Cycle 2 or Control Groups for Texas Reading First Initiative (TRFI) funds may apply to be served by the reading intervention program, Voyager Passport System, in Grades 4 in 2004 and Grades 5 in 2005. These same campuses may also apply to be served by the Voyager Universal System for Grades K-3, in 2004 and 2005. Additionally campuses with passing rates less than the state average on the 2003 Grade 5 Reading TAKS are eligible for this program for Grade 4 in 2004 and Grades 4 and 5 in 2005, if funded under Cycle 1 or applying for Cycle 2 for TRFI. Those campuses not eligible for TRFI may apply to be served by this program for K-4 in 2004 and K-5 in 2005. Per Rider 51(a) the intent for these allocated funds is to provide intensive reading instruction programs for schools that have failed to improve student performance in reading. A list of eligible campuses, along with a letter of intent and FAQ document, is available on the TEA web page at http://www. tea.state.tx.us/reading/breakingnews.html. The letter of intent must be forwarded directly to Voyager by July 2, 2004. The Voyager staff will coordinate details and provide technical assistance with program implementation to those who indicate interest via the letter of intent. In order to maximize time for intervention services, TEA has asked Voyager to begin contacting districts with eligible campuses immediately. After district staff signs a compact agreement directly with Voyager, they will collaborate together to determine the program and budget needs specific to their campus population. Districts will be notified of their selection by July 12, 2004. TEA will then provide those districts with NOGAs for their designated campuses in order to facilitate purchase of the intensive reading program directly from the selected provider. If you have questions or need additional information after reviewing the information on the TEA web page, please contact the TEA Curriculum Division at (512) 463-9581, regarding eligible campuses or David Cunningham with Voyager at (214) 932-9524, regarding the Voyager program. Sincerely, Susan Barnes Associate Commissioner for Standards and Programs |
| My questions to Sandy Kress 07/01/07 |
| [NOTE: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS HIGHLIGHTED IN RED AT LEFT] Peyton - so much of what you have is indeed baseless. In the interest of clarifying, I'll give you these answers. 1. From 1992 through 1996, as a result of the reforms, Disd made the best academic gains since testing had become system-wide. I served out the full 2 terms I ran for and intended to serve. 2. I was not involved in a rider relative to voyager. 3. My wife and I are deeply committed to public education. We both attended public schools throughout. Our children both attended public elementary schools; my daughter still does. My son does attend a private middle school. We believe all these decisions have been the right decisions for our children and consistent with our life long support for public education. 4. I am very proud of my many years of strictly volunteer service to improve the public schools as well as my private sector contributions. The clients I have represented have done an excellent job of helping teachers, administrators, school districts, and states in making public education work more effectively for students. 5. Student performance has improved in Texas and around the country as a result of the reforms. Texas naep data at the elementary level for all racial groups is the best proof for our state, as well as for the nation. Jack Jennings' recent report is a good measure for progress around the country. 6. Texas' drop out rate is indeed way too high; yet by all measures it is much better than it was in 1994 when we got started. Look at the manhattan institute study. Texas' college going rate, yes, has not improved much, and that is why we have focused on secondary school reforms and accountability over the past five years. It will improve. 7. I don't recall erdi. [NOTE: There are no questions numbered 8, 9 or 10] 8. Nclb leaves the standards and tests to the states because there was no appetite at the federal level to try to take over these fundamental roles historically played by the states. The feds simply were saying that for their investment of dollars there ought to be accountability for poor students performing to those standards. 9. I was involved in passing reading first and left government service before implementation. I have expressed the view since that reading programs ought to be scientifically based and effective but also that the feds and the states ought not maintain a bureaucratically developed list of preferred providers. 10. I was not involved in the development of teks or taks. I happen to agree with the general criticism by donna garner that teks are often vague, not measurable, not grade specific enough, and not rigorous enough, particularly in reading. I'm sorry I haven't had time to respond to you before now, but I thought I'd take a portion of this sunday afternoon to try to be responsive. Sk |
| Response 07/01/07 |
| Education lobbyist and lawyer Sandy Kress discussing NCLB on PBS |
| Melinda Gates Person (June 30, 2007) has the wrong photo of Robert Scott with the story about the TEA Inspector General report. |
| Unlike Sandy Kress, both of Robert Scott's children attend public schools. |
| What about David Anthony? |
| QUESTION: Should a paid education lobbyist be allowed to run Texas education? |
| QUESTION: Should a supe who refers simple questions about his district's credit cards (including how many, plus $21,707 in payments for April-May AmEx), online A/P and wire transfers to his attorney, and who plays golf on Friday of TAKS testing week with vendors, be allowed to run Texas education? |
| David Anthony (M) with AIG vendor (R) at golf tourney bar cart Friday of TAKS week |
| 1st My questions to Cy-Fair's David Anthony 06/06/07 |
| 2nd Cy-Fair Legal's Response 06/08/07 |
| David, I've just now searched for checks to TASA, TAS/MUS and TASB on your online accounts payable but found none. Were these payables perhaps sent via wire transfer or some other means which doesn't show up on the regular accounts payable for the district? Speaking of wire transfers, what would be sent via wire transfers? Sorry to bother you with this but calls earlier this afternoon to others have not been returned. Regarding Cy-Fair's credit card situation, how might I obtain details including receipts for the $12,490.64 to American Express on April 12 and for Cy-Fair's May 2006 [$8,216.98] AmEx payment? How might I learn who holds AmEx cards for Cy-Fair? Does the district use anything like Procurement Cards (also called P-Cards, etc.)? Thank you very much, and wishing you all the best. |
| Attached please find the acknowledge- ment letter regarding your email request of June 6. Please refer to the PIR #104-07 number assigned if you have any questions. Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D. - Legal Services.... |
| [ATTACHMENT] Your request for Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School district information regarding accounts payable, credit card and wire transfer information has been received in our office on June 6, 2007. The reference number assigned to your request is PIR # 104-07. Please refer to this number when making inquiries regarding your request. The information will be provided as soon as possible given the type and volume of information requested. If the information cannot be provided within ten (10) business days, you will be notified in writing and provided with a date in which the information will be made available. Please let me know if you need additional information. Sincerely, Linda P. Crump Secretary to the General Counsel |
| 4th My questions 06/21/07 |
| 3rd Cy-Fair Legal's follow up 06/21/07 |
| David, I'm confused about an email request (excerpted below in green) from Cypress-Fairbanks ISD ("CFISD") for a great deal of money as my letter to you on June 6 (further below in blue) does not in any manner reference the Texas Public Information Act. My June 6 letter was sent as an informal media query regarding CFISD's accounting practices including wire transfers and credit cards and checks which are not showing up on CFISD's online accounts payable -- simple and straightforward questions regarding how CFISD spends the taxpayer dollars entrusted to the district for the education of schoolchildren. For some reason rather than answer these simple and straightforward questions your school district has chosen to treat my questions as a formal request under the Texas Public Information Act and wants to charge me $100.60. If you will read this below, I have not asked to see checks and receipts, but to find how how someone might access this information. I must tell you how disappointed I am that someone who is in the position of a Texas public school superintendent has apparently refused to answer some simple and straightforward questions regarding his district's basic accounting practices. If you can suggest another way to look at this, please let me know at your earliest opportunity. I only wrote you initially after being unable to locate this information on your district's website. Although I did not ask to see the checks, in the event that CFISD would like to waive the TPIA fees and send this information because I will post it on my website as a public service, please do so at your earliest convenience to the mailing address below although email is certainly easiest, cheapest and fastest. Did CFISD's taxpayers purchase any scanners for your administrators' and employees' use? These receipts and checks, etc. could easily be scanned and emailed within a few minutes. Along those lines, it appears CFISD's accounting records are not very well organized if it's going to require four hours of personnel time to find and copy current records which most folks would assume to be easily available. Any clarifying comments from you will be welcome also. Thank you again and wishing you all the best. |
| Good morning, Peyton, The PIR #104-07 request for American Express details, copies of check to TASA, TASMU and TASB etc. are ready for your pickup. They cost has been tabulated for the 286 pages and personnel time to pull the data and copy, and it amounts to 286 pgs., 4 hours of personnel time at $15/hr.=$60 and an overhead charge of $12. The grand total is $100.60; a check made payable to Cypress- Fairbanks ISD is acceptable. Please call our office at 281-807-8660 to advise when you wish to pick up the request; due to summer vacations, etc. we want to be sure someone is available to assist you with the pickup. Have a great day. Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D. - Legal Services |
| 5th Cy-Fair Legal's Response 06/26/07 |
| Ms. Wolcott- Dr. Anthony shared your email expressing a concern that your request for information was treated as a "formal" request under the Texas Public Information Act (PIA). As the superintendent's designee for processing PIA requests and the general counsel, I have advised all employees, including the superintendent, that written requests for information that is not readily available should be considered requests under the PIA. The law requires this, even if a requestor does not identify a request as one being made pursuant to the PIA. As such, Dr. Anthony forwarded your request for information regarding certain district expenditures, including a request for receipts for the district's April and May American Express payments and checks to TASA, TAS/MUS and TASB. In order to respond to your request, personnel in the financial services department created a query string to search our electronic payment records for all payments to the requested entities. Once a list was generated, each transaction was pulled, verified, copied, and re-filed. Further, the bills and receipts for each American Express item in April and May was pulled, redacted (account numbers), copied, and re-filed. The PIA provides for charges for personnel time ($15/hr.) and overhead when requested documents exceed 50 pages. The law also provides that when electronic data requires programming, the personnel time may be charged at $28.50/hr. For your request, the computer programming fee could have been charged, however, because paper copies were provided, my office elected to charge the lower personnel fee for copying and redacting. As the third largest school district in the state, we receive many requests for information, and must charge requestors in accordance with the law in order to ensure that we are not gifting public funds. As such, it is not the district's practice to waive fees for PIA requests. Based upon your email to Dr. Anthony, I will consider your request to be withdrawn unless you advise my office to the contrary. You may reach my assistant, Linda Crump, at 281-807-8660 if you have further questions regarding the PIA process. Marney Marney Collins Sims, General Counsel Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District phone: 281-807-8660 fax: 281-517-2125 email: marney.sims@cfisd.net CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: This message and all attachments are confidential and may be protected by the attorney-client and other privileges. Any review, use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, copying, disclosure or distribution by persons other than the intended recipients is prohibited and may be unlawful. You must delete this message and any copy of it (in any form) without disclosing it. If you believe this message has been sent to you in error, please notify the sender by replying to this transmission, or by calling the General Counsel's Office at 281-807-8660. Unless expressly stated in this e-mail, nothing in this message should be construed as a digital or electronic signature. Thank you for your cooperation. |
| Or TAB's Bill Hammond? |
| Or Kent Grusendorf? |
| Dallas ISD tech department vendor-funded satellite office? |