TULSA, Okla. — After two big headlines at the State Auditor’s office this month, 2 News’ Naomi Keitt sat down with Cindy Byrd to ask her about them.
In a nearly 15-minute conversation, 2 News covered the State Department of Education audit released on February 18 and went in-depth after Byrd sounded the alarm about the SNAP error rate.
2 News told you when the Oklahoma State Department of Education audit found no wrongdoing on the part of then-State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister.
Auditor Cindy Byrd said of the roughly $7.6 billion that goes into K-12 education, only .21% is retained at the OSDE. It’s about $16 million.
Byrd is calling for reform and more transparency around accounting at the local level, saying the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System isn’t enough.
“There’s no way to evaluate programs,” said Cindy Byrd. “We keep putting money into education, but we have no mechanism to determine if what we’re getting is the outcome we desire.”
2 News also told you this February, when Byrd sounded the alarm about the SNAP error rate.
That rate basically measures the accuracy of determining benefits and eligibility.
The State Auditor’s office provided this chart showing the current payment error rate at 10.9%. Byrd says that if that rate doesn’t drop to 6% by October 1, the state will be on the hook for $235 million. The chart shows that the last time our error rate was that low was in 2017.
At her press conference on February 4, Byrd said she was offering some of her team members to help DHS get things back in order. 2 News’ Naomi Keitt asked about that process on February 25. Byrd said they were putting together a plan for DHS that would allow another set of eyes for the department.
At that same press conference, 2 News asked if it was doable to get that error rate down to 6% this year.
At the time, she said, “I am always optimistic, but ask me that question in a week.”
On February 25, when asked if that goal is possible, she said,
“If we are all working together with the same goal in mind, it is absolutely possible.”
Byrd says this is an issue that affects every single Oklahoman, regardless of whether you use SNAP.
“If the state of Oklahoma has to carve out $235 million of our existing budget to fund this program, we may have to reduce other services like education, public safety, or infrastructure projects,” said Byrd. “So, it’s very important that everyone is doing their part to make sure Oklahomans are not going to have to pay.”
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