In what may be a preview of her testimony at next week’s House education committee hearing, EdSec Spellings explained at the EWA conference on Thursday that she should not be held responsible for the problems facing Reading First. She told the audience that as head of the White House DPC she was responsible for overseeing too many programs to have been so closely involved as Doherty and others have alleged.
“It would have been impossible for me to have been intimately involved with oversight of all those programs,” she said, though she was “generally aware” of the status of the state plans. She said she met Doherty only after she became Secretary, adopted all of the recommendations of the OIG report, and that none of those responsible for oversight (she named Doherty, Neuman, Hickock, and Paige) are still at the Department.
At least she’s not claiming to not remember. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said about the upcoming hearing. “We’ve got a great story to tell.”