District Misreads Literacy Contract

A controversial contract for an adult-literacy program awarded by the Board of Education this week might have gone to the wrong company by mistake, Los Angeles school district officials said Thursday.

Supt. Roy Romer and several board members said in interviews Thursday that they thought they were giving the $6.3-million contract to Reality Based Learning of Redmond, Wash., a firm with an established record in children’s literacy. Instead, they approved a contract with a similarly named start-up company with just three employees. That firm, Reality Based Learning California, has the same founder as the Washington-based company but no other formal ties to it.

The California firm has a mailing address at a Los Angeles law office and no operational software.

The only link between the two firms is Gary Andersen, a software entrepreneur who founded both companies and sits on the board of the Washington corporation. Anderson, who is no longer working with the Washington firm, says he is the president of the Los Angeles-based company.

“I feel that the district has been subject to a bait-and-switch,” said Romer, who had cautioned against buying the literacy program.

The program, which was approved 4 to 3 on Tuesday, sparked a heated debate because Romer and some board members were upset at behind-the-scenes efforts by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) to push it. Critics of the contract said supporters were trying to curry favor with the powerful lawmaker. And the district’s inspector general is investigating whether Polanco’s series of meetings with individual board members violated open-meeting laws.

Polanco, who argued passionately for the program at the meeting, made several references to the Washington-based firm and described how its literacy program was already being used in schools there and in Canada. Polanco also reminded board member Genethia Hayes about her trip to the company’s Redmond offices and recounted visiting each board member with Andersen in tow.

On Thursday, Polanco said he was aware that the California and Washington companies had no official tie, but said that is irrelevant.

“You don’t invest in the company,” said the Senate majority leader. “You invest in the people.”

But Romer said he doubted whether the board realized that they were only investing in three people--Andersen and two itinerant software programmers.

“Never was it disclosed by Polanco,” Romer said.