INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Indiana's A-F school grading system faces scrutiny over emails showing that education leaders scrambled to overhaul the program at least in part to ensure that a prominent Republican donor's charter school received a top mark.
The September 2012 emails obtained by The Associated Press show former schools Superintendent Tony Bennett urging his staff to find a way to give Christel House an A grade despite poor test scores in algebra that earned it a C.
Bennett is reviewing Florida's grading system as that state's education commissioner.
The grades help determine school funding and even how teachers are compensated. The system is part of a sweeping education overhaul Bennett launched in Indiana that made him a star in conservative circles.
Bennett says the grading overhaul wasn't directed solely at Christel House.
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