SACRAMENTO, CA - Those involved in what PRI calls “grand theft education” often get away with it. But not always, as shown by a recent $4.5 million judgment against outgoing state superintendent of education Delaine Eastin and the California Department of Education (CDE).

During the 1990s Eastin’s CDE, was giving away millions in federal adult education funds to politically correct “community based organizations” that could not account for how they spent the money. The schools were in some cases open fields or empty houses. The money had been spent on such educational items as Mercedes-Benz automobiles. The fraud was blatant, but it took courage for investigators to blow the whistle.

The organization that got the most money was Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, headed by the late Bert Corona, a militant leftist who threatened investigators and complained about them to Sacramento politicians. These politicians then prevailed upon Eastin, a former Democratic assemblywoman. She responded not by correcting the misconduct - some of the recipients have since been convicted of criminal charges - but by firing the
whistleblowers. Those fired fought back through the courts, and won.

A jury ruled that Eastin had retaliated “with malice” against James Lindberg, a 20-year CDE employee. He was awarded more than $1 million in economic damages and $1.7 in non-economic damages. Eastin is personally liable for $1,375,000, plus punitive damages of $150,000. Joan Polster, Lindberg’s immediate boss, is liable for $412,500 in non-economic damages. Other fired whistleblowers have settled for smaller amounts but some still have cases pending. All of this demonstrates the corruption inherent in the system.

CDE oversight mechanisms are weak or nonexistent and the department acts mainly as courier service for billions in education spending. The adult-ed scandal, with more than $20 million involved, shows that some officials like it that way. But the problems didn’t start with Delaine Eastin. In 1993, three-time state superintendent Bill Honig, a self-described reformer, was convicted of felony conflict-of-interest charges for sliding state money to his wife’s education firm.

Jack O’Connell, the current state superintendent, is an establishment insider, endorsed by Delaine Eastin, backed by teacher unions, and with close ties to Governor Gray Davis. Superintendent O’Connell is a foe of charter schools, one of the few meaningful reforms.

Legislators will want to watch very carefully how the CDE dispenses money under O’Connell. And some $11 million in adult education money is still unaccounted for. Auditors and investigators should be emboldened by the Lindberg award and fearlessly report any misconduct, to the FBI if CDE bosses ignore it. For their part, parents, educators, and taxpayers should take a hard look at the system.

The transfer of billions from one bureaucracy to another, with few checks and balances, is an invitation to fraud and corruption. As test results show, Californians are getting a miserable return for all their spending, and educrats are now resurrecting universal pre-school and bilingual education, both counterproductive boondoggles. Little will change until parents, not bureaucrats, make the key decisions about the education of their children. The next time a school choice measure is on the ballot, and the education establishment blares boilerplate hysteria about charlatans and fast-buck artists, voters should recall the shenanigans of the CDE.

K. Lloyd Billingsley is editorial director of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. He can be reached via email at klbillingsley@pacificresearch.org.