Spellings Faces Tough Questioning on Hill

Washington

The congressional inquiry into the federal Reading First program continued here today as U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings told the House Education and Labor Committee she is “deeply concerned” about new revelations about the extent of financial ties between federal consultants and commercial publishers and will continue to investigate allegations of mismanagement and bias in the program.

When asked after the hearing if she would ask for the resignation of Edward J. Kame’enui, a high-level official at the Department of Education and one of the former consultants targeted in the ongoing review of the program, she answered, “I don’t know.”

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House education committee, said Mr. Kame’enui, who is serving as the commissioner of special education research at...