This sort of fraud and undermining has been happening for at least the past 60 years in California. The phonics system has been around since the 16th century until the late 60's because it worked the best. California threw it all away because a tiny cabal of academic standards board members wanted to foist their untested ideas onto pupils. At least one private school system, Challenger, was formed in their wake of absurdity.
For more context this investigative series is an interesting look at this style of reading education.
This is a different situation but bears some similarities: in many states, moderates and conservatives have tried to stop the increasing politicization of school instruction, usually with a left bias. In a few red states it’s the other way. But in many states, politically biased instruction gets packaged under labels like “social and emotional learning” (SEL) and the curriculum / materials come from random mostly unknown companies that are part of the grift that accompanies this activism. Parents and news organizations are often surprised when the school district or state refuses to answer questions and denies requests for transparency. It is usually made with claims of copyright protections preventing sharing of the materials that guide classroom instruction. Meanwhile, students lose time to ineffective instruction, fall behind in the global talent race, and some grifters get rich. The only way past those barriers to transparency, is a lawsuit.
Part of the way this reading system was sold was as a way to "equalize" outcomes, so it too was "part of the grift."