Federal Audit Criticizes Management of State Scholars Initiative

The State Scholars Initiative has been a pet project of President Bush’s and could guide the Department of Education in defining a “rigorous” high school curriculum under a bill now pending in Congress. But the program has had a rocky past, a recent, highly critical federal audit shows.

The program grew from a privately financed initiative in Texas to encourage students to take more demanding high school classes to a federally funded national project that was plagued by poor management. Last fall, a new organization took over the program with the hope of widening its scope.

The endeavor is getting a fresh look in light of a budget bill—close to final passage by the House—that includes a measure encouraging students from low-income families to pursue a challenging high school curriculum in return for extra college grant money. The measure would give the U.S. secretary of education authority to define a “rigorous” curriculum for students hoping to qualify. One possibility would be citing...