Posted May 23, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Iowa leaders have taken over an investigation into the state’s first publicly reported case of cheating on the standardized tests that determine the overall performance of schools. Officials with the Davenport Community School District recently turned over to the state materials from their investigation of irregular erasures
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Posted May 23, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Officials with the Iowa Department of Education say they won’t release information collected in an investigation of a cheating scandal involving Davenport third-through fifth-graders at Madison Elementary School. They declined to do so at the advice of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who said that material contained
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Posted May 13, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Good intentions aren’t the only driving force behind Iowa’s education reform efforts. State education agencies, special interest groups and for-profit education companies have spent thousands in 2012 and 2013 to hire lobbyists and pad the campaign coffers of lawmakers who sit on key committees. Many of these
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Posted May 09, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Family members and close friends of Iowa‘s Congressional Delegation benefit from their position, whether it be special one-time funding for an alma mater or hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to one lawmaker’s son for working on his campaign, a review federal records shows. Take for example
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Posted May 03, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
A Polk County judge Friday agreed to review the tape of a closed-door meeting held by the Des Moines School Board in regards to former Superintendent Nancy Sebring’s controversial departure. Graham Gillette, a former school board member, brought a lawsuit against the district last year requesting that a judge review
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Posted May 02, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – A bill to limit the use of Iowa welfare dollars at strip clubs, bars and casinos stalled Wednesday when members of the Iowa House approved an amended version they then returned to the Iowa Senate. With the Legislative session winding down, House members spent more than four
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Posted April 29, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES — When it comes to transparency in government, Iowa agencies face few consequences if they break the state’s open records and meetings laws, some state officials say. Under state law, the only way for Iowans to remedy potential violations is to take taxpayer-funded agencies to court, which is a
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Posted April 23, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – At least one Iowa lawmaker wants answers from state leaders regarding lax oversight of a $100-million program aimed at providing the poor with the essentials. Rep. Brad Zaun, R-Polk, will seek answers next week when he meets with Charles Palmer, director of the Department of Human Services.
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Posted April 19, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES — In 1973, then California Gov. Ronald Reagan said government officials derive their “ultimate authority from the people. And we have an obligation to make sure that in carrying out our responsibilities, we do so at a price they can afford.” Forty years later some in Iowa government
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Posted April 15, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
One of the worst kept secrets in Iowa is that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, is considering a run for governor. Many in Iowa’s Democratic Party see Vilsack as potentially the only one among them capable of beating Republican Gov. Terry Branstad in a 2014 match-up. Vilsack,
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