Sol Stern
Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute

It is an in-depth and devastating expose of the scandalous efforts by the executive branch and Congress to sabotage the Reading First program. As is pointed out in the report, Reading First is a highly successful and effective program—the only one contained in the No Child Left Behind act that has received the stamp of approval from both the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Reading First is aimed at teaching poor, illiterate children basic primary-reading skills. It was also a once top administration priority (President Bush was promoting Reading First to students in a Florida classroom when 9/11 took place). But now Reading First’s budget has been slashed by two-thirds, the administration has gone AWOL and the program’s first director, Christopher Doherty, was forced to resign—all purportedly because of a "scandal" uncovered by the Education Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG). 

This report, however, reveals the real scandals that have yet to be brought to public attention:

 Millions of poor, illiterate children are suffering because of the political games of adults who have undercut the implementation, budget and positive impact of the Reading First program.

 Doherty was sacrificed for vigorously doing his job: making sure that only effective reading programs received funding—just as Congress envisioned and the White House intended—while denying requests for taxpayer dollars to flow to unreliable programs.

 For doing his job, Doherty and his team were subjected to a reckless, one-sided, hydra-headed investigation by OIG head John Higgins. After failing to uncover any financial wrongdoing, corruption or abuse, the OIG published a weak, mostly unsubstantiated report that called Doherty’s integrity into question with little or no evidence.

 Doherty was hung out to dry, even though he was doing the bidding of President Bush and then-domestic policy advisor Margaret Spellings (then LaMontagne). From her office in the West Wing, Spellings oversaw the Reading First program. She was Doherty’s de facto supervisor. Her invisible fingerprints were all over every key decision made by Doherty. Yet only Doherty came to grief.

 President Bush and Secretary Spellings have allowed Reading First’s budget to be gutted, and a once top administration priority has fallen by the wayside.

 Chairman David Obey (D-WI) of the House Committee on Appropriations slashed Reading First’s budget by over $600 million in fiscal 2008.

 Chairman Obey is known to be friendly with Robert Slavin, developer of the Success for All reading program, who has publicly stated that he was angry Success for All was not receiving more federal funds under Reading First. He urged the OIG to investigate Doherty. Following the OIG report, Slavin demanded that Reading First’s budget be substantially cut—which Obey did.

Report- http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/reading_first_030508.pdf

In a Nutshell - http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/reading_first_nutshell_030508.pdf

At a Glance - http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/reading_first_glance_030508.pdf

Published March 5, 2008