Education Dept. IG Says He'll Have His Assistant Look Into Allegations against Boss's Brother
By Jon Ponder on 11/8/2007, 6:07am PT  

Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review.

We'll believe it when we see it:

The Education Department's inspector general [IG] says he will review whether federal money is inappropriately being spent on programs by a company founded by Neil Bush, the president's brother.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW], a Washington-based watchdog group, called for the inquiry and released a letter this week from the department's inspector general, John Higgins Jr.

In it, Higgins said he would ask an assistant to examine the group's complaint.

CREW contends that the educational programs distributed by Ignite!, Neil Bush's company, are worthless, and that school districts who spend federal dollars on the programs are wasting taxpayers' money.

Ignite! president Ken Leonard said that that his company had not been contacted by anyone from the Education Dept. about the matter:

"Ignite! Learning has no knowledge of any customer that has procured our curriculum solutions through means which are other than completely ethical and in compliance with the typical guidelines of their various funding sources," Leonard said.

The program in question is "Curriculum on Wheels," which includes software for teaching math, social studies and science. Each program costs $3,800 each, not including subscription fees, according to the Associated Press.

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Article Categories: Accountability, Education