DC School Agency Pays Consultancy $89,000 For One Day of Work

Think about all the times you've heard "there's no money in education." Well, it's not quite that simple, as District of Columbia residents recently discovered to their regret. According to a Washington Post' story, a politically connected consultancy received nearly $90,000 for one day of work.

Some of the more salient details of this outrageous sham are worth noting:

• The contract (which was technically a grant) was no-bid
• The winning firm -- the publishing arm of SPC Consulting -- is owned by a husband-wife team. The wife is a former US Department of Education official; the husband is the chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education
• The DC bureaucrat responsible for signing the consultancy had done prior business with the firm in Chicago
• The DC fee paid for a half-hour speech, three 45-minute workshops, and (heaven help us) a book signing of the wife's book!
• The books cost $30 per unit
• SPC charged DC $250 per person for its workshops, with 300 participants included in the grant. The same product was offered to Chicago public schools for $70 per person less than what DC was levied. Why the spread for DC? According to consultancy spokespeople, the seventy dollar per head toll covered travel and expenses for three people. In this case, the math isn't complicated: $70 x 300 = $21,000
• An SPC spokesperson defended its fees, characterizing them as "below normal industry rates."

What's wrong with education in the United States? Beats me.