Critics Blast ED's 'Propaganda' Probe

Investigators looking into a massive, multimillion-dollar public relations campaign to support President Bush's top education priorities acknowledge that taxpayer dollars were used in ways that often were not disclosed to the public, in clear violation of federal rules -- but they stopped short of concluding that the government has engaged in any illegal propaganda. Their report has raised the ire of many Democrats in Congress, who say it doesn't go far enough in its rebuke. The Bush administration has devoted too much time -- and money -- to polishing its own public image, and not nearly enough on providing adequate funding to improve the nation's schools, the president's critics contend. The report, from the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Office of the Inspector General (OIG )-- the internal investigation unit responsible for policing ED programs -- found that media relations firms, advocacy groups, and other private companies received nearly $5 million in grants to help galvanize public support for the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) without disclosing that they received taxpayer funds to do so, as required by law. In at least four cases, education officials failed to turn over materials necessary for investigators to conduct a thorough analysis. In one such instance -- a $1.7 million public relations effort -- ED was unable to provide a complete list of work statements associated with the contract and could not specify what deliverables the investment intended to yield. Though the report, released by Inspector General John Higgins' office earlier this month, found no evidence of "covert propaganda" on behalf of education officials, it did say ED needs to do a better job of tracking and monitoring how taxpayer dollars are spent and even suggested that the administration move to recoup some of the monies in those instances where rules governing full disclosure reportedly were broken.
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Corey Murray]