The two-years-in-the-making audit was released after a false start, on Wednesday afternoon. The 64-page report looks at various financial issues, some of which were publicly known and some previously unreported.
Byrd blamed former superintendent Deborah Gist and the school board that hired her for many of the issues.
“TPS had a systemic lack of internal controls and administration over their purchasing process,” the audit report said. “Both the administration and the Board failed to provide adequate oversight of the process. Audit results, identifying over 1,400 discrepancies, were concerning. These issues spanned almost eight years, documenting a long-term lack of management oversight.”
In response, TPS board vice president John Croisant told reporters Wednesday afternoon that most of the issues in the audit have already been remedied. TPS Superintendent Ebony Johnson emphasized the procedural changes the district has made since she took over.
In a press conference at the state capitol, Byrd said her office discovered vague and absent invoices, unauthorized payments and non-compliance with House Bill 1775 among a multitude of other violations.
“No auditor wants to find evidence like this. It doesn't serve anyone's interest when a public school fails to act with financial responsibility, especially in the interest of wonderful teachers and students of that school district,” Byrd said. “Even though we uncovered substantial issues with internal controls and non-compliance with state law, the scope of our investigation was limited, we are still left with a number of unanswered questions.”
Those questions include missing messages and communications between administrators, Gist, and Devin Fletcher.
Fletcher was the former District Chief Learning and Talent Officer for Tulsa Public Schools. Last year, he was sentenced for wire fraud after creating false invoices and purchase orders to defraud the district at the non-profit Foundation for Tulsa Schools. It’s estimated he swindled TPS and its foundation out of “$824,503 through various transactions and schemes,” according to Byrd’s audit.
Gov. Kevin Stitt had called for an investigation of the school district in 2022. He voiced concerns about the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic response, former superintendent Gist’s misspending of tax dollars and violations of House Bill 1775, which bans certain conversations about race or sex from Oklahoma classrooms.
He called the actions “gross mismanagement, something I thought was happening two years ago. I just want to shine a spotlight on it.”
According to Byrd, she hopes to move forward positively with the district.
“I extend an open hand to Superintendent Johnson and the Tulsa board members. I'm committed to helping them re-establish sound financial practices that will protect our students and the taxpayers,” she said. “Moving forward, there is no reason why TPS cannot rebuild and foster a culture of responsibility and trust, and it's my sincere hope that they can begin to do so immediately.”
Tulsa Public Schools’ response
At a press conference in Tulsa following the audit release, TPS Superintendent Johnson said the district “welcome[s] feedback,” but also clarified it had only been given the presentation slides in advance — not the audit itself.
As for Byrd’s claim the district had been aware of the issues for nine months, Johnson said about half of what was presented Wednesday had not been brought to the district’s attention in meetings with the auditor’s team.
“We were told about fiscal responsibility, internal controls. We were talked to about the fraud that took place with Devin Fletcher. Those were the things that were mentioned to us at that time,” Johnson said. “Other things that we learned about and you all learned about today, was not at all presented to us nine months ago.”
Two weeks ago, Byrd announced a reveal of the audit but abruptly canceled, saying the district had pulled a “last-minute legal maneuver,” by “invok[ing]” a statute that allows a two-week period for districts to be notified of the audit findings. Johnson disputed the characterization.
“There was absolutely no ‘invoke.’ It’s a law,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the district had been told it would receive the audit findings well ahead of the reveal, but the auditor’s office rescheduled the results delivery due to a “personal matter” and did not deliver the presentation slides until after the initial press conference.
When the district received the slide presentation, Johnson said it submitted questions and clarifications to the auditor’s office. While it received confirmation of receipt, she said those questions have not yet been addressed.
Johnson and the board also disputed the characterization of how the district invoiced its ESSER funds, which were pandemic-era federal relief dollars given to schools. Byrd said the district’s invoicing to vendors was vague and incomplete, but Johnson said the State Department of Education, which handles the invoices, never flagged any issues with the documents.
“Those things were handled by the state department, and no one questioned whether or not we filled anything out incorrectly,” Johnson said. “So we wouldn’t have known that it was not enough information on that documentation until we got this finding.”
TPS board president Stacey Woolley said the state department’s mishandling of the invoices should warrant investigating its practices.
The audit also cites a conflict of interest with Chris Hudgins, TPS executive director of bond and energy management. It says Hudgins owns a consulting service and violated district policy and potentially state law by performing work through his company for a TPS vendor. That vendor paid Hudgins more than $300,000.
Johnson and the board claimed no knowledge of Hudgins’ actions, and Johnson said upon learning about them, Hudgins was immediately put on administrative leave. Woolley said Hudgins’ resignation will be voted on at Thursday’s board meeting.
Despite the findings of Hudgins and what the audit says could be violations of House Bill 1775, Johnson said the auditor’s office told the board that outside of the actions of Fletcher and accomplices, nothing illegal had been done.
Johnson also disputed the characterization of the district’s responsiveness to the auditor’s request for documentation, saying it had been thanked by the auditor’s office for its cooperation.
She emphasized the district has, since the discovery of Fletcher’s actions, made significant changes in financial procedures. The district has hired its own auditor, purchased a fraud-detecting AI program, involved the board in financial decisions and transactions with the Foundation for Tulsa Schools, and hired a new administrative team.
Woolley claimed the auditor’s report is politicized. Byrd is a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2026.
“If the aim of the audit was anything else [other than political gain]... shouldn’t we have expected the findings to be conveyed to TPS leadership and the elected board members charged with oversight in a manner that allows us to respond and improve?” Woolley said. “That has not been done, because the auditor is not interested in our improvement, but solely elevating her status.”
Woolley said the politicization draws into question the legitimacy of the audit, and Byrd’s response to the district citing the two-week-notification law “alarms” the board that the audit “is about more than simply fulfilling her duties as an auditor.”
On the issue of TPS potentially in violation of House Bill 1775, Woolley said the auditing team did not have an understanding of the provisions of the bill or the administrative rules used to enforce it.
“The audit states that TPS continues to utilize materials and services that included [critical race theory] concepts after House Bill 1775 was implemented, resulting in questioned costs totaling more than $5 million,” Woolley said. “Let me say, this is unequivocally not true.”
Woolley said the auditor’s office confirmed none of the vendors’ materials provided to the office were reviewed.
While the governor requested a review of House Bill 1775 compliance, the audit also reviewed compliance with a 2023 State Board of Education order requiring a list of diversity, equity and inclusion-related expenditures. The audit says four vendors should have been classified as DEI-related but were not.
“There is nothing in Governor Stitt’s request for an audit that mentions diversity, equity or inclusion, as that has only become a focus of political attacks in recent months,” Woolley said. “To make this leap, and to challenge all efforts by the district to fulfill our core value of equity, is an irresponsible and uncalled-for escalation of the audit’s supposed purpose.”
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