The Lone Star Report
August 4, 2006
by William Lutz
Reprinted with Permission

     Whom does Commissioner of Education Shirley Neeley think she's kidding?
     For the past two years, Texas newspapers have run stories about consultant reports that suggest rampant cheating on the state's standardized test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS).
     So on Aug. 1, Neeley announced a special task force on test security. Here's Neeley's idea of how to address the TAKS cheating issue and restore credibility to the state's testing program: appoint a task force composed of three educrats, a chamber of commerce president, and Texas Association of Business President Bill Hammond.
     Her actions send a tangible message that the priorities of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) are geared toward the employees of the education system, not the parents and communities it is supposed to serve.
     She should have appointed a few garden-variety public school parents on this panel. They would have the most to lose if the state's accountability system is corrupted.
     And if Neeley were serious about stamping out cheating in the public school system, she would have selected at least one member from the conservatives on the elected Texas State Board of Education, all of whom have a demonstrated commitment to real accountability and integrity in the education system. Don McLeroy (R-College Station), for instance, wouldn't put up with any stonewalling from school district or TEA bureaucrats, which is precisely why Neeley won't let him get anywhere near this panel.
     And how about putting someone on this panel with a criminal justice background? School employees who help students cheat on state exams are committing a crime. To borrow a phrase from Clayton Williams, they should be introduced to the joys of bustin' rocks.
     A prosecutor and a law enforcement officer would have been great additions to this panel. A good legal mind could help improve Texas law so that cheating is less likely to occur, and when it does occur would be easy to detect and prosecute.
     Texas is home to some of the finest law enforcement officers in the nation. Hundreds of trained professionals would be happy to use their experience in security and criminal investigation to improve the public school testing system.
     When planes crash, the federal government does not let the Federal Aviation Administration investigate, because the effectiveness of that agency's procedures will always be examined as part of any serious investigation. Instead, the federal government set up the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate accidents.
     It's unlikely that a majority of this task force's members will display the independence needed to tell the painful truth about the state's accountability and testing system or make the recommendations needed to put a stop to cheating on state standardized tests.I don't know the three educators Neeley appointed to the panel, but their backgrounds seem a poor fit for restoring confidence in the public school system.
     George McShan is a former president of the Texas Association of School Boards. That, in and of itself, should disqualify him from a serious effort to reform the testing program. The Texas Association of School Boards has fought tooth and nail just about every meaningful reform of education that would empower parents at the expense of the education bureaucracy. The organization's solution to every education problem is higher taxes and more government cash.
     Carol Francois was an associate commissioner at the Texas Education Agency under former Commissioner of Education Mike Moses (whose duties, according to TEA, included oversight of "monitoring activities") and also served as Moses's chief of staff at the Dallas Independent School District.
     That the test integrity problems have continued to this day is proof enough that the measures taken under Moses were not effective in the long-term.
     Sylvia Hatton is a recently retired executive director of a regional education service center, whose mission is to assist school districts.
     In addition to the three educators, Neeley appointed two executives of business trade associations, A.J. Rodriguez of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Bill Hammond of the Texas Association of Business.
     Most of the publicity surrounding this panel has centered on Hammond and some partisan campaign finance allegations - which were later dismissed by a Travis County district judge - leveled against his organization.
     Despite the partisan chaff thrown up by Democrats, Hammond's appointment is one of the only ones that might be defensible.
     Based on my past conversations with Hammond, I believe he understands the problem and recognizes that it's serious. He wants to restore some integrity to the testing program. I hope he is willing to tell the unpleasant truth and make tough recommendations to fix the problem, even if that creates some headaches for some politicians in Austin.
     This may be a bit much to ask. His organization has an active legislative agenda, and the support of Gov. Rick Perry is essential to making that agenda a reality.
     Would any trade association president be willing to tell the truth if it meant appointees of the governor might look bad and endure some political fallout?
     In addition to Hammond and Rodriguez, Neeley should have considered a retired CEO or small business owner with private-sector experience and no legislative agenda to advance in 2007.
     No panel on TAKS cheating with an educator majority deserves to be taken seriously. What next? Will the TEA appoint Terrell Owens to a panel to improve sportsmanship at high school athletic events?
     This incident has a lot in common with Neeley's appointment of an educator-majority panel to try and implement the requirement that 65 percent of all education dollars be spent in the classroom. No one seriously believed that superintendents - whose trade association fought the 65 percent rule - would make a good-faith effort to increase the percentage of education dollars spent on classroom instruction. After a public outcry, Neeley backed down and also set up a panel from outside the education bureaucracy to examine the issue.
     Neeley's task force looks more like a political smokescreen than a serious effort to improve the integrity of the state's testing system.