The secretary of education and the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability are directed to create an Oklahoma Public Schools Revenue Report. In it will be analyses of revenue sources allocated to public education, expenditures by categories like instruction and administration, per-pupil spending from all funding sources and spending per in-person instructional day.
It will evaluate “spending efficiency” across districts and may offer recommendations to “enhance transparency, operational efficiency,” and practices for coding school expenditures.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education is directed to provide the secretary of education and OEQA with the data for the report. The analysis should be submitted to the Governor’s Office by Aug. 31.
“Every Oklahoman deserves to know how their tax dollars are being spent, and transparency in public education funding is critical to understanding how students are benefiting in the classroom,” Stitt said in a news release. “This executive order will ensure we look closely at real data, so we can reward what’s working, fix what’s broken, and ultimately improve student outcomes.”
Stitt noted in the release that state appropriations for public education have increased more in the last seven years than the past 25 years.
The order comes after a recent state audit of former Superintendent Joy Hofmeister’s administration found no misuse of funds, but State Auditor Cindy Byrd called for a better system to detect fraud at Oklahoma schools.
Another audit released Thursday of Varnum Public Schools found alleged embezzlement and missing funds.
Alongside the call for spending efficiency at Oklahoma’s public schools, Stitt has also championed removing the cap for the Parental Choice Tax Credit program to pay for private school tuition.
“This executive order establishes that this work must be a routine effort that helps to drive enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in the use of school resources,” Secretary of Education Dan Hamlin said in the release.
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