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Report on Oklahoma Department of Education finds no criminal action, stresses need for communication

State Superintendent Ryan Walters listens to a report from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency on the State Department of Education's handling of funds.
Beth Wallis
/
StateImpact Oklahoma
State Superintendent Ryan Walters listens to a report from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency on the State Department of Education's handling of funds.

The Oklahoma Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency said the State Department of Education did not do anything to warrant a criminal investigation for how it handled funding at its legislative presentation Tuesday. But, it said the agency should have communicated better with districts and lawmakers.

The 56-page report covers five areas of investigation on the handling of funds: pay raises for teachers at schools not on the state funding formula, paid maternity leave, school resource officers, inhalers at schools and federal funds for low-income students.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters said the investigation was encouraged by “lies perpetuated by the media, by the teachers’ union and some bad actors.”

“This is a waste of time for the people of the state of Oklahoma. We have been transparent in everything that we do, both with the public, with the legislature and with districts,” Walters said. “I promised the people of Oklahoma I would hold taxpayer funds accountable. That’s what we’ve done in this agency time and time again.”

Federal title funds received the most attention from lawmakers at LOFT’s presentation. According to the report, districts were used to receiving numbers on what their federal Title I funds would be in the spring, but this year, those numbers were not released to schools until late summer.

The office said the state department “was not aware” that districts were used to receiving this information early.

“The agency was overconfident in their belief that these communications had never occurred, and consequently they dismissed legitimate complaints from the districts,” the report reads.

The report notes the agency’s timeline was still within federal guidelines.

Additionally, once the department published final Title I numbers, it found a calculation error and zeroed out allocations in its online system before notifying districts about the problem.

According to the report, final allocation numbers were published within the same timeframe as the previous administration’s. Walters defended his agency by saying that compared to the surrounding states, with one exception, Oklahoma gets its allocations out to districts faster than any others.

Rep. Meloyde Blancett (D-Tulsa) asked why the agency didn’t do more to notify school districts about impending funding numbers to “allay panic.” Walters said there was no panic and reiterated that he cannot make administrators open their emails.

“There was not this freak out from districts,” Walters said. “They get an email from us every week. They choose not to open the email update every week. That’s on them. They have all of our numbers.”

Lack of timely action and subsequent communication to districts about funding timelines was a persistent theme in the report.

For instance, on the issue of school resource officer funding, the legislature dedicated funds for schools to hire additional officers or enhance physical security at schools in 2023. Originally, the department wrote in its guidance for schools they could rollover funds from one year to the next.

However, the state department’s legal team later weighed in, advising the agency the funds could not be rolled over. The guidance was removed from the agency’s website, but that was after the second year of the 3-year program — leaving districts that had rolled over those funds with a zeroed-out balance.

According to the LOFT report, the departments within the agency were “not communicating clearly with each other,” and when changes were made to the website, those changes were not communicated to districts until after the Attorney General required the agency to allow for rollover.

“Because different departments within SDE came to different conclusions, and because the department that ultimately communicated with districts communicated that rollover was allowed, districts were given the guidance that conflicted with legislative intent,” the report reads. “SDE’s later-published legal analysis, and revised guidance, would have deprived districts of funds they were reasonably relying on having access to in later years.”

Rep. Melissa Provenzano (D-Tulsa) grilled Walters about his agency’s ability to manage itself with a significant talent drain. Since Walters took office, more than 130 employees have left the agency or been fired.

According to the report, the agency has funding for 434 full time employees but currently employs 398. Walters said the agency’s goal is to shrink the number of total employees needed.

Provenzano asked Walters three times what the funds appropriated for those payroll functions would be used for. Walters answered in varying ways each time he would provide the updates “as those purchases come.”

She asked if the publicly stated intention to use payroll dollars to purchase classroom Bibles was no longer the intention for the funds. Walters answered his department “never stated that.” According to Oklahoma Watch, OSDE spokesman Dan Isett said in early October the $3 million in agency dollars that would purchase the Bibles was coming from “significant personnel and administrative cost savings.”

Toward the end of the hearing, Provenzano voiced concerns about the agency not having enough staff to fulfill its duties and admonished it for not working more collaboratively with school districts. She was interrupted by Chair Kevin Wallace (R-Ada).

“I wonder if the concerns cited by our districts will continue to be met with derision, to be quite frank,” Provenzano said. “Or if the ‘service mindset’ will begin to take hold. This is a state agency, the taxpayer is who we are responsible for, but we have directed this agency —”

“Do you have a specific or direct question there?” Wallace asked. “I mean, you’re starting to —”

“Do better, I think,” Provenzano said. “Question mark.”

StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership of Oklahoma’s public radio stations which relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online.

Beth reports on education topics for StateImpact Oklahoma.
StateImpact Oklahoma reports on education, health, environment, and the intersection of government and everyday Oklahomans. It's a reporting project and collaboration of KGOU, KOSU, KWGS and KCCU, with broadcasts heard on NPR Member stations.
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