Ex-schools chief sentenced in test scandal

EL PASO, Texas -- A federal judge sentenced the former superintendent of El Paso Independent School District to more than 3 years in prison yesterday for his participation in a conspiracy to improve the district's high-stakes tests scores by removing low-performing students from classrooms.

Lorenzo Garcia's scheme to prevent hundreds of sophomores from taking the accountability tests fooled authorities into believing that academic standards had improved in his West Texas district -- resulting in a boost in federal funds and personal bonuses totaling at least $56,000.

Garcia pleaded guilty to two fraud counts in June -- one in the testing scandal and another in which he misled the school board so that his lover would receive a $450,000 no-bid contract to produce school materials.

Friday, federal judge David Briones sentenced him to 3 1/2 years in prison on each fraud count, to be served at the same time. Garcia also was ordered to pay $180,000 in restitution and fined $56,500 -- the amount he received as a bonus from the district for its success on test scores.

Garcia, who was hired in 2006, implemented a plan with several other administrators that allowed for the pretesting of 10th-graders to identify those who were likely to fail the standardized tests.

The method, known as the "Bowie Model" because it was employed with the most force at Bowie High School, was intended to keep low-performing students from taking high-stakes state tests used to measure its performance under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.