Former OSDE staff say Walters, not them, to blame for missed federal grant funds

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — State Superintendent Ryan Walters and other Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) leaders blamed former OSDE staff members for the department’s failure to secure $1.4 million in federal grant funding for school security, but those former staff say OSDE leadership refused to give them the necessary resources to secure federal grant funding in the first place.

Last week, Walters and OSDE Chief Academic Officer Todd Loftin told legislators that the reason OSDE failed to secure $1.4 million in federal grant money for school security programs was because OSDE staff members whose job it was to secure grants suddenly resigned, and did not share certain records needed for new staff to pick up where they left off.

However, OSDE’s former Program Manager of Grant Compliance and Development previously told News 4 that Walters and other high-level OSDE staff ignored her countless requests to be given access to the critical systems needed to secure federal grant funding for schools.

Last month, Walters denied accusations that OSDE was not making any efforts to secure federal grant funding under his leadership.

"We look at every grant. We have a process where we look at every grant,” Walters told reporters when asked about OSDE’s failure to secure the federal grant funding for school security at May’s state school board meeting. “We make sure Joe Biden’s not trying to indoctrinate kids with the grant."

But last week, Walters and Loftin had a different answer for state legislators when they asked the same question at a hearing with OSDE leaders.

“Quite frankly, some people would leave, and not leave a lot of that information behind,” Loftin said of former OSDE staff to state legislators at the hearing.

"The employees that allowed this to happen are no longer with us. They either were removed or left intentionally and did not turn over records,” Walters told legislators.

But one of those former OSDE employees Walters and Loftin blamed for not turning over key records previously told News 4 that Walters and his staff refused to give her access to those records in the first place. 

“I could not even get into the programs to monitor,” former OSDE Program Manager for Grant Development and Compliance Pamela Smith-Gordon told News 4 in an exclusive interview back in April.

In that interview, Smith-Gordon told News 4 she was one of Walters’ hand-picked hires, but she resigned after a few months on the job because Walters and his staff gave her zero support when it came to applying for federal grants.

“There were things that that were being neglected,” Smith-Gordon said. “And we were not serving our kids. And it didn't matter how often you got on TV to tell that the grant office is doing fine and we are getting money. No one ever spoke to me.”

Smith-Gordon said she continually asked OSDE leadership to get her access to a critical grant application software, but her requests were always ignored.

“In order to get access… it had to be requested by the State Superintendent,” she said. “And when I asked several times to speak with him and even started emailing him directly, I was called to an office of someone that had [Walters’] ear and was told that [Walters] would never see me, to stop contacting him, that he was too busy.”

She said the person who told her that — was Loftin.

Smith-Gordon argued the lack of support from OSDE leadership is what actually caused the department to lose out on hundreds of thousands in federal grant funds.

Back in her April interview, she warned of the exact scenario currently playing out regarding the missed federal school security grant funds.

“We ended up losing a couple million," Smith-Gordon told News 4 in April. “That couple of million was safety programs for schools, mental health programs for schools. These students were not being served.”

When asked for comment in April, an OSDE spokesperson told News 4 Smith-Gordon’s claims were “vile and inaccurate.”