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U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today hailed the past 18 months of management improvements at the Department of Education, culminating recently with the department's first clean opinion of its recordkeeping in many years and only the second in its history.

"Eighteen months ago, I made a promise that I would get our house in order, and I'm proud to say that we have," Paige declared. "We have made tremendous progress in ensuring that we become effective stewards of the taxpayer's funds."

At the top of Paige's "to do" list 1 1/2 years ago was the goal of obtaining an unqualified or "clean" auditor's opinion of its financial statements. Recently, the independent accounting firm of Ernst and Young notified the department of its finding.

"We are delighted that our financial statements have gotten a clean bill of health," Paige said. "This is a crucial milestone that we have passed in our march toward creating a permanent culture of accountability."

In addition to the audit results, the Office of Management and Budget recently issued the President's Management Agenda "scorecard," tracking management improvement in agencies governmentwide. OMB conferred upon the Education Department all "green lights" -- the highest rating -- for its progress in implementing management reforms. The seven green lights were the most of any agency.

The secretary paid special tribute to several officials in the department who have been leading the management upgrade efforts, including Deputy Secretary William Hansen, Assistant Secretary William Leidinger, Chief Financial Officer Jack Martin and Federal Student Aid Chief Operating Officer Terri Shaw.

"Many others have contributed to the success of this project and I want to especially thank the department employees who have embraced the culture of excellence and accountability," Paige said.

Prompting the improvements, in part, were determinations by the General Accounting Office and the department's own Office of the Inspector General which cited inadequate financial reporting, incomplete reconciliation of financial records and poor control over information systems.

So, Paige launched a far-reaching overhaul of management practices, some of the results of which are highlighted below. In the past 18 months, the department has:

• Created a Management Improvement Team of senior managers with the charge that they identify weaknesses and make recommendations for establishing accountability for results and performance-based management.

• Produced a roadmap to improvement, The Blueprint for Management Excellence.

• Completed 85 percent of the original action items in the blueprint with the remainder in the process of being implemented.

• Implemented 80 percent of management improvement recommendations made by GAO, OIG, and the financial statement auditors. The department is in the process of ensuring the remaining 20 percent are completed in a timely and efficient manner.

• Appointed Martin as the department's chief financial officer and Leidinger as the first assistant secretary for management -- both offices of which had been vacant for several years.

• Installed new accounting software.

• Improved reconciliation and reporting capabilities.

• Instituted preparation of financial statements quarterly.

• Exceeded default management and prevention goals in the Federal Student Aid program, in addition to implementing a new financial system. Also improved, combined and retired legacy systems while ensuring efficiency and effectiveness.

For more information about the department's management improvement efforts, look under "management" at http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/mission/priorities.html.

Editor's note: Photos and audio of today's event will be available later at http://www.ed.gov/news/photos/latest/index.html.

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