- The report, "Government at the Brink," issued
in June by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, says that the
Education Department reported in its financial statements that it had $7.5
billion in the bank when it actually owed that money to the U.S. Treasury.
This means that the department's books are off by $15 billion, about a
third of what it spends annually. But this isn't just a case of bad accounting.
Education department whistleblower John Gard suspects that "senior
management officials" in the department had been "setting up
the Agency to rip it off" and that millions of dollars or more have
been embezzled. Gard says there was no security over the system to prevent
embezzlement and no audit trail to find out where the money was going.
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- At the same time, the House of Representatives has moved
to further globalize education, voting on May 10 to rejoin the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and provide
it with $67 million. UNESCO has been described as a "global school
board" that promotes international education initiatives and attempts
to mold "global citizens." It is notorious for promoting the
"New World Information Order." In arguing against the money,
Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado noted a report that the new director- general
of the agency plans to use millions of dollars to help restore colonial
Havana. "It is not at all clear to me why we should be rejoining an
organization which is promoting tourism in Cuba," he said. UNESCO
has jurisdiction over "World Heritage Sites" and "Biosphere
Reserves" around the world, including Independence Hall and the Statue
of Liberty.
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- By its own account, the Department of Education "provides
information on U.S. educational policy, educational programs, and international
educational issues to U.N. functional commissions and committees, U.N.
specialized agencies, programs and funds, Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGO's) and other UN related organizations. Department of Education officials
serve on U.S. delegations as participants in world conferences and meetings
such as the World Summit for Social Development, the UN World Summit for
Children, and UN Fourth World Conference on Women and Beijing + 5."
Even when the U.S. was not a member of UNESCO, the education department
participated in UNESCO-sponsored conferences and meetings such as the World
Education Forum, Education for All, and the World Conference on Higher
Education. The department furnishes statistics for the UNESCO database.
Under a Clinton executive order, entitled, The International Education
Policy, the department works "to strengthen and promote international
education, making it an integral part of U.S. education." In cooperation
with the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Endowment
for the Humanities, and many non-governmental organizations, the department
implements this directive.
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- "Education for All" is a reference to the UNESCO-sponsored
"World Conference on Education for All," held in Thailand in
1990, and follow-up conferences and activities. The purpose is to spend
more government resources on education and expand governmental policy over
educational matters. A "U.S. Campaign for Education for All"
was established to carry this forward in the U.S. The National Education
Association (NEA), the liberal teachers' union, promotes the concept through
a "Global Campaign for Education." The group is on record in
favor of "age-appropriate instructional materials on the establishment
of peace and the understanding of nuclear proliferation" in the schools.
It adds, "These materials should include activities dealing with peaceful
resolution of conflict, the effects of nuclear weaponry, strategies for
disarmament, and methods to achieve peace." Another resolution endorses
the U.N., the "Education for All" initiative, and the taxpayer-funded
U.S. Institute for Peace (see below). NEA 2000-2001 Resolutions. 1-1. Peace
and International Relations. The National Education Association recognizes
the interdependence of all people. The Association believes in the ideals
of peace, freedom, and human dignity based upon respect for the individual
and cultural diversity. The Association urges all nations to develop treaties
and disarmament agreements that reduce the possibility of war, provide
for the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and guarantee the rights of nations
to coexist within safe and secure borders. The Association also believes
that such treaties and agreements should prevent the placement of weapons
in outer space. The Association further believes that the United Nations
(UN) furthers world peace and promotes the rights of all people by preventing
war, racism, and genocide. The Association believes that Education International
contributes to peace and international relations by promoting dialogue
among the world's education employees. The Association supports the U.S.
Institute of Peace, which provides publications, information, programs,
training, and research data in developing peacemaking and conflict resolution
skills.
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- The NEA has passed a resolution stating that the Department
of Education "must be a viable force for the maintenance and improvement
of public education in the United States" and that NEA members "must
be fully involved in establishing goals and planning programs with the
Department."
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- This concentration of power at the national and global
levels has been occurring over a period of 20 years. Congress established
the Department of Education as a Cabinet level agency in 1980. Today, it
administers a budget of about $42 billion per year and operates programs
that "touch on every area and level of education."
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- Growth of Education Department Budget 1980: $14,011,052
million 1983: $15,271,092 1986: $17,763,257 1989: $22,819,224 1992: $32,169,741
1998: $35,677,788 1995: $32,293,918 2001: $42,415,285 2002: $48,878,397
(proposed)
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- The corruption problem is so massive that Secretary Roderick
Paige was forced to hold a press conference on April 20 specifically on
the issue of fraud and mismanagement in the department. It was at this
event that he said his hope was that the agency could pass an audit in
18 months. Paige suggested the problem in the agency involved the mismanagement
or loss of only $450 million, and that $250 million of that had been recovered.
The $450 million figure was also put forward at an April 3 congressional
hearing, where the agency's Inspector General testified.
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- Many people have heard of the $450 million figure, and
the recovery of much of that money. But this is hardly a great accomplishment.
Gard says the department was alerted by honest contractors who told the
agency about getting paid twice for the same work.
-
- The real problem is the identification and recovery of
the unrecorded payments that the agency made. This has occurred through
the conversion by the department to the Grants Administration and Payment
System (GAPS), through which payments are made. After Gard suspected in
1996 that "senior management officials" in the department "were
setting up the Agency to rip it off" during the conversion to the
GAPS. he came up with a plan to prevent this from happening. He was then
removed from the group handling the matter. He said the agency proceeded
to implement the system knowing that it could be ripped-off. A "super-user
ID" and password were released to about two dozen top employees and
contractors, allowing them to conduct, modify and delete financial transactions
"without any trace." Gard explained, "The money could be
siphoned off. There is no trace, no audit trail." He placed some of
the blame for this state of affairs on Clinton's secretary of education
Richard Riley, who claims that he pursued "corrective action"
on the problems. Gard said this is absolutely false.
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- Gard informed the Inspector General (IG) about refund
checks available to be cashed for personal use by education department
employees. Acting on his information, the IG raided the office of Chief
Financial Officer and found $2 million in refund checks lying unsecured
on an employee's desk. The agency responded by claiming the problem was
insignificant and that it had been fixed. Gard said he's more concerned
about the checks they didn't find.
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- When he continued to blow the whistle, he was escorted
from agency property by armed federal security guards. Gard said he was
treated like a "common criminal" and barred from the agency.
But the Office of Special Counsel, established to handle whistleblower
complaints, confirmed Gard's complaint of "gross mismanagement"
in the education department. When Gard was finally brought back to the
agency in December 1998, he was a given a different job with a nice office
and told his duties were to stay inside with the door locked. In the Spring
of 2000, he was given clerical work that took less than 4 hours a week
to complete.
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- Gard said some money was funneled to accounts called
"pseudo recipient." He obtained documentation indicating there
were several hundred of these accounts, including one to a bank in Puerto
Rico that received $4 million. Obviously, these were conceived for the
purpose of diverting taxpayer money.
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- If the Department of Education can't account for the
money it is currently spending - and the agency has failed three straight
audits -- it is difficult to see how the Bush education plan of testing
and local accountability could ever be implemented.
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- At the news conference called by Education Secretary
Rod Paige, officials of the department claimed that financial problems
are going to be addressed through the installation of a new software program,
Oracle Federal Financials. Gard said, however, that this would not solve
the GAPS disbursement and security problems that currently exist. Gard
said the Oracle software may resolve some accounting problems if it is
installed correctly. He said he knew of one federal agency that had used
it properly. Ironically, it had been installed at the Corporation for National
Service by one of his former associates at the education department, after
he had been run out of the agency.
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- For more on the story: http://www.usasurvival.org/ck03082001.html
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