SACRAMENTO, CA - Education is the biggest expenditure in California and it just became more expensive because of corruption that state officials chose to overlook rather than correct.

California’s Department of Education (CDE) oversees federal grants for adult education and English language instruction for immigrants. Some of the groups receiving the money were not qualified to receive it and their records proved bogus. Others spent the money on such educational necessities as Mercedes-Benz automobiles and jewelry. Some of their schools turned out to be open fields and empty houses.

Robert Cervantes, an assistant superintendent of education, pointed out many of the problems to his superiors. But some of the organizations receiving the money had ties to Sacramento politicians. Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, the biggest recipient, was also under fire for tax violations. Hermandad boss Bert Corona complained to CDE officials about Cervantes’ investigations.

The CDE, headed by current state superintendent Delaine Eastin, not only kept the money flowing, all told about $20 million, but fired Cervantes, who also received threats and intimidation from Hermandad. Cervantes filed suit and the U.S. Attorney General began looking into the matter.

On September 19, the CDE agreed to pay the federal government up to $3.3 million, a practical acknowledgment that it disbursed funds knowing the money was being misused. The CDE is trying to recover the misspent funds but any success in that quest remains unlikely. Where much of it went only Hermandad’s Bert Corona knows, and he passed away last year without telling. His organization now faces federal criminal charges.

Robert Cervantes is taking legal action to get his job back and laments that those who allowed the fraud to take place have not been called to account. The major parties are Eastin and an elusive former CDE official named Gabe Cortina. The CDE is denying the allegations, so the proceedings should be quite dramatic, but there is no denying the lessons of this story.

The evidence of fraud in this case was overwhelming and it remains a mystery why it took so long for law enforcement to follow through. The reluctance to start at the top is also puzzling. The legal system, after all, successfully brought felony charges against the previous state education superintendent, Bill Honig. Justice delayed is justice denied. The losers are California taxpayers and the immigrants who wanted English and citizenship classes.

The California Department of Education, as other watchdog agencies have charged, does a terrible job at oversight and functions simply as a delivery service for money. This is the same department that has made life difficult for home schoolers and charter schools, one of the few education reforms showing positive results.

CDE’s oversight failure, and its punishment of a whistleblower, should be recalled whenever the agency makes grandiose claims about quality education and accountability. These usually come when there is a ballot measure that would take control away from bureaucrats and give it to parents, where it belongs. But the larger problem is the entire government education monopoly itself. That monopoly provides poor products at high prices, resists reform, restricts choice, wastes billions, and invites fraud. In other words, corruption is inherent in the system.

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