Russ Whitehurst, the former head of IES (the body responsible for the DC voucher study), gives a thorough and authoritative explanation of the final report's release. It parallels the argument I made here.
If we're right, Secretary Duncan was unjustly accused of stacking the deck. Regardless of your view on the voucher issue or party affiliation, this is wrong. This business of accusing political opponents of bad motives and nefarious behavior hurts reputations and degrades policy discussions and the political process.
To be clear, this cuts across party lines. For example, it was unfair to insinuate that the GOP governors who raised serious concerns about the long-term effects of education stimulus funding were merely positioning themselves for 2012 or, worse, didn't care enough about kids.