OKLAHOMA CITY — Findings from an audit on the state department of education requested by Gov. Kevin Stitt did not find wrongdoing under the leadership of then-state superintendent Joy Hofmeister, but State Auditor & Inspector Cindy Byrd said then-education secretary Ryan Walters did not follow the law.
Byrd released the findings from the audit of the 2020-21 fiscal year in a press conference Feb. 18.
Gov. Kevin Stitt requested the audit in September 2021, citing record education funding from the pandemic and a previous failed audit of EPIC Charter Schools.
- Previous coverage>>> State superintendent calls Gov. Stitt audit 'attack' on Oklahoma education system
Hofmeister called the governor's request an "attack" on public education at the time. She would announce her run for governor against Stitt three weeks later.
WATCH: Audit clears Hofmeister but slams Walters, legislators for 2021 education finances
"What we audited at OSDE was the 0.21%. That is all we had the authority to audit," Byrd said in the press conference, citing that the rest of the $7.6 billion education budget that year was controlled by school districts.
While no wrongdoing was found by Byrd's office of Hofmeister's OSDE, the auditor said any waste, fraud, and abuse in education would likely occur at local level because that is where the money is spent.
However, Byrd said the secretary of education is supposed to analyze education expenditures, especially administrative spending.
"The secretary also oversees the Office of Educational Equality and Accountability, or OEQA, which is directed by law to review all school finance matters," Byrd said. "However, OEQA in 2021 failed to meet regularly and comply with those requirements. OEQA had the authority to review expenditures in districts that exceeded administrative cost limits, but none of the 23 schools that did so were reviewed in 2021."
The auditor also called for rigorous reform on the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System, or OCAS, which is a self-reporting platform for school districts.
"OCAS is not providing taxpayers with transparency, and the state does not have any mechanism to catch financial wrongdoing at the local level," Byrd said. “This audit of OSDE should be a wakeup call about school board oversight. Legislators may need to consider establishing strategic training for school boards so they can provide the financial oversight that Oklahoma taxpayers deserve. It’s very important to remember the next generation is counting on us: school board members, superintendents, legislators, all citizens to use these education dollars wisely.”
Gov. Stitt issued a statement afterward, agreeing with the argument for OCAS changes:
“Oklahoma taxpayers deserve to know exactly where their education dollars are going. This audit focuses on less than two percent at the State Department of Education, but more than 98% flows directly to local districts and the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System (OCAS) is not giving parents and taxpayers the transparency they deserve. It’s time to modernize OCAS and put every public school’s checkbook online in one central location so Oklahomans can truly follow the money.”
2 News asked the governor's office twice to directly address the findings of wrongdoing by then-secretary Ryan Walters, but remains unanswered as of late Feb. 18.
Byrd also said a million-dollar deal the state legislature made with a math education vendor in 2021.
“On the surface, this $1 million was allocated for supplemental math programs and tutoring," Byrd said. "But to receive any portion of the $1 million, school districts had to work with a specific vendor. In the context of $7 billion in expenditures, $1 million may seem like a drop in the bucket. However, my concern is this one million may have served to incentivize school districts to use a specific vendor for supplemental math programs and tutoring. Furthermore, if a school district cooperated and hired this vendor, that school district could attain additional services from the same vendor at a discounted rate. The vendor ultimately went on to earn an additional $13 million from school districts in one year. Legislators pushed schools to work with this vendor. By appropriating money for this vendor, legislators also guaranteed that the vendor would not have to go through a competitive bidding process. So why did the legislators single out this vendor? We asked the former chairman for the committee on appropriations for any documentation that would show this vendor and product was evaluated.
2 News has also asked the office of Attorney General Gentner Drummond if he'll look into the findings Byrd released that found Walters did not follow the law.
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