August 9, 2010, WASHINGTON (UPI) — Education experts are warning that a lot of companies with little experience are gunning for a piece of the U.S. government’s school overhaul program.

The Obama administration has increased education funding by $3.5 billion this year alone, and experts tell The New York Times that has a lot of companies fluffing up their limited or dubious credentials.

“This is like the aftermath of the Civil War, with all the carpetbaggers and charlatans,” said education consultant Rudy Crew, a former New York City schools chancellor.

Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, told the Times that a lot of the companies looking for contracts have little real experience in overhauling failing schools. “Many of these companies clearly just smell the money,” he said.

At the same time, Jennings added, Washington and many state governments aren’t organized in a way to provide effective oversight of the programs.

A key to the potential problem, experts says, is that many prospective contractors hope they can generate needed changes in student performance through some tweaking of the curriculum. Instead, changing the course of a crippled school requires sweeping changes that can include wholesale replacement of staff, instituting discipline in the halls and rigorous testing of students.