No Gifted Child Left Behind

The city comptroller's office is investigating why [the Department of Education failed to report paying more than $55 million to a private tutoring company] that has been looked into for questionable business practices in the past. It seems that Platform Learning stipulated it would need $7.6 million to provide tutoring required under No Child Left Behind regulations to children in failing schools. However, the Education Department wound up giving them a big fat sum of $63 million, according to the deputy comptroller for audits, contracts, and accountancy, John Graham. That’s a bonus of exactly $55.4 million for those traumatized by their school experiences prior to the time when No Child Left Behind existed. Oddly enough, the company has gone since bankrupt and, prior to that, was investigated for allegedly bribing principals and offering gifts to students to entice them to use their services. Well, I guess the extra dough was used to purchase an inordinate amount of iPods then.