Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed two former prosecutors Friday to be joint special investigators into the cheating scandal that involves Atlanta Public Schools.
Former State Attorney General Mike Bowers and former DeKalb County District Attorney Bob Wilson start immediately. The state probe involves Atlanta and a second school system, Dougherty County, which state officials said did an "incomplete" review of schools that may have cheated on state tests.
The effort will likely take months. The state will pay for it, although officials do not yet know how much it will cost.
"We talked to folks about getting recommendations and, frankly, with almost everyone we talked to, these two names kept coming up," Perdue's spokesman, Bert Brantley said. "They know each other. They'll make a good team. They understand how important the job is."
Bowers, a law partner in the Atlanta office of Balch & Bingham, was appointed attorney general in 1981. He was reelected four times, then resigned in June 1997 to seek the Republican nomination for governor, which he narrowly lost after admitting an affair with a former secretary. Bowers through his office declined to comment Friday.
Wilson, a Decatur lawyer, was DeKalb's district attorney for 12 years, starting in 1980. He ran for the post as a Democrat. In 1992, he headed a special state investigation of lending firm Fleet Finance. The resulting $100 million settlement was, at the time, the largest by any state against a single company using federal unfair and deceptive practices law, according to Perdue's office. Wilson could not be reached for comment.
Brantley said both expected to keep a low profile. "They're going to focus on the work," he said.
Perdue called for a special investigator Wednesday during a rare appearance before the state Board of Education, saying local investigations into alleged cheating were "woefully inadequate both in scope and depth."
The state had ordered those local investigations at schools found early this year to have a high number of suspicious erasures on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.
Wilson and Bowers will have subpoena power, meaning they will be able to compel witnesses to testify. Under state law, an investigator can refer cases to local district attorneys or to the state Attorney General's Office for prosecution. State law prohibits falsifying state documents but there is no law specifically against cheating on tests.
That power has significance at least in Atlanta, where an investigative report compiled by a commission appointed by the school board noted its lack of ability to compel employees to talk.
The commission's report, released Aug. 2, said widespread cheating appeared to be limited to 12 Atlanta schools among 58 flagged by the state as requiring further scrutiny. Some problems were identified at another 13 schools. The commission noted fewer concerns among the other 33 schools. It recommended 109 employees for further investigation.
Kathleen Mathers, executive director of the Governor's Office of Student Achievement, the state agency that conducted the original testing audit, said this week that the investigative panel's approach in Atlanta conflicted with instructions from the state, including use of a different standard to assess test data. Additionally, the state received evidence of interviews for only 32 of the 58 schools identified. Some employees gave non-responsive answers to questions at half the dozen schools the district found most suspicious.
Atlanta schools Superintendent Beverly Hall said Thursday she welcomes the state probe.
Mathers said Dougherty’s investigation lacked rigor and appeared aimed at explaining away the erasure analysis than investigating it. The district had hired a consulting firm run by a former Fulton County superintendent to work with district employees on the inquiry.
R.D. Harter, a spokesman for the system, said earlier this week the Dougherty school board was satisfied with its findings and the district responded to all questions from the state. But, he added, “we welcome any further investigation. We don’t condone cheating."
The scandal erupted after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported statistically unlikely gains in CRCT scores at some schools including Atlanta in 2008 and 2009, and the Governor's Office of Student Achievement commissioned an erasure analysis of 2009 CRCTs statewide.
The state's analysis, released in February, prompted investigations at 191 Georgia schools of suspicious erasure marks on the exams. Atlanta had the highest number of flagged schools of any district.
It was the last of the 35 systems to complete its investigation, which was originally due in May.
Staff writer Heather Vogell contributed to this article.
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