Hatch school shot misses

Posted at 7:35 AM on August 16, 2006 by Mike Mulcahy

Attorney General Mike Hatch released a letter to the media yesterday accusing the state education department of breaking the law by pushing back the release of school performance information from September to November. Hatch told MPR:

"Here we have a situation where the system that's designed to make schools more accountable is not being accountable. It's violating the law, keeping the information secret and what the Department of Education should do is disclose the results and explain what the deficiencies are so that people can take that into account. You still have to follow the law."

One problem--Hatch was wrong.

Education commissioner Alice Seagren noted the Legislature changed the law last year, allowing for the delay because of new tests, and that the federal government also approved the delay. She told MPR:

"A courtesy call from the attorney general's office to our office would have cleared that up immediately. You know they're charging that we're not following the law, but I would charge that any first year law student should be able to research laws and find out what the latest amended version is."

Hatch's office fired a letter back to Seagren saying they still believe the department has to release the data on September 1. Seagren says many of the organizations representing school superintendents and schools support the department's decision to delay the test scores. They say the basic message is that parents will have to wait a few more months to know how their public school is performing.

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