Ed Sector’s Kevin Carey complains that the NY Post called the crooked, useless Reading First boondoggle a “$6 billion program”:

The Post story on the Reading First study begins: “Students enrolled in a $6 billion federal reading program that is at the heart of the No Child Behind law…”

Wait. It’s only a $6 billion program if you add up the total funding over six years (I think, I’m writing this on a plane). That’s a completely non-standard way of reporting federal budget numbers. Nobody says the Pentagon has a $2.4 trillion budget. And reading first isn’t “at the heart” of NCLB. The accountability provisions are.

Why exaggerate to sell the story? It’s an interesting study — play it straight.

But how interesting to Carey is it? Do a search on his site for “Reading First,” a story that has been around for over a year, and you won’t find much.