Search Page

A federal grand jury in Kansas indicted a former college-basketball coach last month on charges that he arranged for his players to receive phony academic credit and stole $120,000 in Pell Grants. The former coach faces a total of 51 years in prison and over $1.5-million in fines if found guilty of all counts.

The Canadian value most under threat is freedom from corruption, claims the industry sector. The 2005 Transparency International survey shows that Canada has slipped to 14th among countries perceived as free of corruption, down from its traditional top-10 placing.

An auditor has been charged for having changed business records in an effort to help conceal the theft of more than $11 million. The district superintendent is accused of stealing more than $2 million; the assistant superintendent for $4 million and a former school accounting clerk for $780,000. Money shall have been used on artwork, jewellery, foreign trips and home mortgages. The scandal that has resulted in a state-wide changes in the way school finances are audited.

According to investigations conducted in Nicaragua, among the 3 500 teachers from autonomous colleges who actually collect a salary on a monthly basis, in reality only 1 945 of them are actually teaching. At least 555 individual salaries are therefore paid to fictitious teachers or to individuals falsely (fraudulently) using the names of teachers.

Honduras invests large sums in education, but powerful teachers' unions and political appointments hinder reforms in a sector vulnerable to corruption and lacking of civil society monitoring. There are 50,000 teachers in the country; between 2,500 and 6,000 of them have pending issues about their posts (such as irregular paid leaves or unjustified absence while still on the payroll). For current decentralization plans to impact positively on education services, local auditing skills need to be improved, parents must be given a bigger role, and unions must adhere to codes of conduct.

Teaching positions are for sale in Mexico, and have been for decades. Although seldom discussed, the practice—established by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to reward party loyalists—is apparently widespread. The going price for a teaching position in a public primary school is reported to be between $5,000 and $12,000, depending on locale. Teachers who resign can either sell their positions or pass them on to their children. In at least some cases, local governments and the teachers' union supervise the buying and selling process. However, a recent reform effort—the "Alliance for Education Quality" (ACE)—signed by the government and the national teachers' union in May, would base new teacher appointments on merit, via an examination administered by an independent body. Not surprisingly, it has generated a vociferous response at the grass-roots level. Teachers have gone on strike in many states, marching on government offices, closing schools and blocking streets.

Three former professors at Oral Roberts University have sued the evangelical institution in Tulsa (Okla) filing a petition in state court that accuses the university's president of using university resources to back a local mayoral candidate and to pay for an extravagant lifestyle for his family. The university released a statement denying the allegations.

According to a report elaborated by auditors from a nonprofit group based in Indiana, County principals have too much power and should be reined in to improve education in the school district. In order to avoid disparities, auditors have recommended limiting principal's powers and holding them for accountable for mistakes, as well as determining which decisions can be made at school level and which must be made by the central office.

The Education department must explain why it let a student loan company that an audit had found improper millions of dollars. The loan company received the payments through a subsidy program that guaranteed a 9.5 percent interest rate on student loans. In an accord reached in January, the department allowed it to keep the $278 million it had received but suspended future payments of more than $800 million until a future audit could determine whether the company was eligible for the money.

According to Stossel there is a financial corruption going on in American schools. He claims that there is a myth that the education system needs more money. US spend more on schooling than the vast majority of countries that obtain better results in the international tests. But the bureaucrats still blame school failure on lack of funds, and demand more money.