The U.S. Education Department has placed Matteo Fontana, a general manager in its Office of Federal Student Aid, on administrative leave following revelations that he held stock in a student-loan company at the same time he helped oversee such lenders.

The department announced the action one day after Higher Ed Watch, a blog operated by the New America Foundation, reported that in 2003 Mr. Fontana sold at least $100,000 in stock in Education Lending Group Inc., then the owner of Student Loan Xpress.

The U.S. education secretary, Margaret Spellings, also “has asked for the resignation” of Lawrence Burt from the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, a department spokeswoman, Katherine McLane, said today in a written statement. Mr. Burt, associate vice president for student affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, was one of three student-aid administrators reported by Higher Ed Watch to have also held stock in Education Lending Group Inc.

The Education Department said in a statement on Thursday that it regarded the case of Mr. Fontana “very seriously, and our Office of the General Counsel is actively reviewing it.” Ms. McLane, in today’s statement, said the matter also had been referred to the department’s Office of Inspector General.

Also today, the chairman of the House education committee, Rep. George Miller of California, wrote to Ms. Spellings to ask for a list of any other relationships between lenders and department employees involved in student-loan operations. Mr. Miller said in the letter that he wanted, within 10 days, copies of any relevant documents, including postal and e-mail correspondence, meeting minutes, notes, and departmental guidance.

Representative Miller described the case of Mr. Fontana as part of a series of “disturbing findings of improper relationships” between lenders in the federal guaranteed-student-loan program and the government officials charged with overseeing them. —Paul Basken