Changes

The grand jury claimed that Thompson, Smith, and Ackal conspired to split $360,000 of an $889,000 contract to International Management System. The contract was issued to test thirty thousand preschool children to determine how many qualified for expanded special education under terms of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, signed into law by [[U.S. President]] [[Gerald Ford]] in 1975. All three were found guilty of defrauding the taxpayers, lost their appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in [[New Orleans]], and served prison sentences.<ref name=courtcase>{{cite web|url=http://openjurist.org/706/f2d/523/united-states-v-g-ackal-l-ce|title=UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edward G. ACKAL, Henry L. Smith and C. E. "Ed" Thompson, Defendants-Appellants. No. 82-3243. United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. May 23, 1983. Rehearings and Rehearing En Banc Denied July 18, 1983|publisher=openjurist.org|accessdate=February 8, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/|title=Click Edward G. Ackal, Henry L. Smith, and Charles E. Thompson for prison release dates of December 20, 1985, January 2, 1986, and January 23, 1986, respectively|publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons|accessdate=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>Billy Hathorn, "Education in Tensas Parish, Louisiana: Desegregation, Re-Segregation, and the Continuing Decline in School Enrollments, 1970-2017" ''North Louisiana History,'' Vol. 49 (Winter-Spring 2018), pp. 34-35, 44.</ref>

The grand jury claimed that Thompson, Smith, and Ackal conspired to split $360,000 of an $889,000 contract to International Management System. The contract was issued to test thirty thousand preschool children to determine how many qualified for expanded special education under terms of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, signed into law by [[U.S. President]] [[Gerald Ford]] in 1975. All three were found guilty of defrauding the taxpayers, lost their appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in [[New Orleans]], and served prison sentences.<ref name=courtcase>{{cite web|url=http://openjurist.org/706/f2d/523/united-states-v-g-ackal-l-ce|title=UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edward G. ACKAL, Henry L. Smith and C. E. "Ed" Thompson, Defendants-Appellants. No. 82-3243. United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. May 23, 1983. Rehearings and Rehearing En Banc Denied July 18, 1983|publisher=openjurist.org|accessdate=February 8, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/|title=Click Edward G. Ackal, Henry L. Smith, and Charles E. Thompson for prison release dates of December 20, 1985, January 2, 1986, and January 23, 1986, respectively|publisher=Federal Bureau of Prisons|accessdate=March 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>Billy Hathorn, "Education in Tensas Parish, Louisiana: Desegregation, Re-Segregation, and the Continuing Decline in School Enrollments, 1970-2017" ''North Louisiana History,'' Vol. 49 (Winter-Spring 2018), pp. 34-35, 44.</ref>

==Defeat in 1983==​

==Defeat in 1983==

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The creation science dispute and the Thompson-Smith-Ackal scandal may have worked against Nix politically. He was unseated as superintendent in the primary election held on October 22, 1983, by his previous rival, Thomas Clausen. In that same election Edwin Edwards unseated Republican David Treen for the governorship. Upon leaving the superintendency in 1984, Nix became the president of J. Kelly Nix and Associates, a firm involved in commercial real estate in both Louisiana and [[Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linkedin.com/in/jkellynix|title=J. Kelly Nix's overview|publisher=linkedin.com|accessdate=October 7, 2013}}</ref>​

The creation science dispute and the Thompson-Smith-Ackal scandal may have worked against Nix politically. He was unseated as superintendent in the primary election held on October 22, 1983, by his previous rival, Thomas Clausen. In that same election Edwin Edwards unseated Republican David Treen for the governorship. Upon leaving the superintendency in 1984, Nix became the president of J. Kelly Nix and Associates, a firm involved in commercial real estate in both Louisiana and [[Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.linkedin.com/in/jkellynix|title=J. Kelly Nix's overview|publisher=linkedin.com|accessdate=October 7, 2013}}</ref>​