CREW V. Sec. of Education et al (formerly CREW V. Sec. Margaret Spellings, now CREW V. Sec. Arne Duncan)

7 Dec 2006 // Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and the Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in the District court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit is based on DOE's failure to release certain records required by law to be made public. Those records include the activities of advisory panels created under the Reading First Initiative, which was set up by the No Child Left Behind Act. CREW's complaint alleges that DOE failed to comply with any of the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which requires agencies using panels such as those implemented by the Reading First Initiative to conduct open meetings, make records of those meetings publicly available, and ensure that any recommendation of the panels is the result of a fairly balanced panel. The panel sets up under the Reading First Initiative make recommendatiosn to the Secretary about which states should receive federal funds under the program. In a report issued in September 2006, DOE's Inspector General found that the Reading First Initiative was plagued by conflicts of interest, possible corruption, and numerous violations of law and General Accounting Office (GAO) standards.