HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania education officials won’t discuss the results of a statewide investigation of educators accused of cheating on standardized student tests, but at this point very little punishment has been handed out.

“More than a year after then-state Education Secretary Ron Tomalis vowed to file ‘well over 100’ disciplinary complaints against educators over alleged cheating on state tests, the state has disciplined only five,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

Under Tomalis, education department officials launched an investigation into widespread cheating on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test that was originally alleged in a 2009 report.

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The report, which went overlooked for more than a year, centered on odd erasure patterns on the 2009 PSSA test, although state officials expanded their investigation to 2010 and 2011 tests as well, the Gazette reports.

Tomalis eventually focused the investigation on 38 school districts and 10 charter schools throughout the state, and cited widespread cheating in previous years as a possible reason why PSSA test scores slipped in 2012.

Tomalis, who is now an adviser to the governor, estimated last fall that over 100 disciplinary actions would be sought against educators as a result of the scandal, according to the Gazette.

So far, only five educators – one in Erie and four in Philadelphia – have been punished for helping students cheat, and all of the disciplinary action took place between March and May of 2013, shortly before Tomalis left the department.

We can only hope that we haven’t heard the last of this situation. Educators cheating on behalf of students – to make themselves look better through improved test scores – is a serious offense that must be met with harsh punishment.

School officials use test results to measure student academic progress. False scores give the false impression that kids are doing better than they are. That means some students probably won’t receive the remedial help they need in some subjects. They will receive less instruction than they are entitled to.

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That’s unacceptable. If state authorities sweep this scandal under the rug and let the rest of the perpetrators off the hook, citizens should rise up and demand a full inquiry.

The integrity of the state’s public education system hangs in the balance.