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$15 BILLION Missing From
Education Dept - Clinton
Officials Suspected
America's Survival, Inc.
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8-10-1

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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."

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."

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

For more on the story: http://www.usasurvival.org/ck03082001.html