Yesterday the Chicago Tribune reported that thousands in state grants, funnelled through the Illinois State Board of Education, were going to questionable organizations.

In a church on Chicago’s West Side, two homeless children fiddled aimlessly on unplugged computers, awaiting their “tutor.”

Another church sat darkened and padlocked during after-school hours even though it was presented as a tutoring center.

Today, the ISBE had this to say:

“The Tribune story raised the bar for us, and we plan to make these grant awards a much more rigorous process,” said Jesse Ruiz, chairman of the state Board of Education. “We have to go and try to retrieve funds if people are not doing what they promised us they’d do.”

Here’s what he should have said: “This is absolutely unacceptable. We will find who is responsible for approving these specious grants and make sure they no longer work with the Illinois State Board of Education.”

Ahhh. That’s the dream world I live in, where government agencies act swiftly and honestly to rectify problems.

Also, Rich Miller also suspects the proposed investigation will never happen.