LOFT report finds lack of communication by OSDE with spending, no criminal wrongdoing

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The results of a government spending investigation were released on Tuesday. The Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, or LOFT, report examined how State Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education spent taxpayer dollars.

The report found no criminal wrongdoing but did uncover breakdowns in communication by Walters and the department.

"This is a waste of time for the people of the state of Oklahoma," said Walters after the findings were released.

Representative Mark McBride criticized the way Walters and the OSDE handled taxpayer dollars.

"He talks about transparency, but communication and transparency go hand-in-hand, in my opinion,” said McBride. “The fact that the report, if you look at the analysis that LOFT had on every item, there was lack of communication."

The report mentioned the lack of communication between OSDE and school districts multiple times.

The investigation looked into five areas of spending; Title I funding, pay raises for teachers, maternity leave, school resource officers, and asthma inhalers.

It showed Title I funds were delayed by several months which kept schools from knowing an official budget for the year. The report found miscalculations and miscommunication led to the delay.

It also showed OSDE questioned certain guidelines in legislation which delayed spending for school resource officers, asthma inhalers in the classroom, pay raises for teachers and maternity leave.

Walters deflected responsibility for the findings and called the report a political agenda for McBride and Speaker Charles McCall.

"McBride went around lying about us, (saying we’re) not giving him answers or information,” said Walters. “That's where this whole thing started from a complete scheme by him and Speaker McCall to try to impeach me."

McBride said Walters was taking the probe too personally.

"There's incompetence or of running an agency and having these kind of problems that constitute impeachment,” said McBride. "It's our job as legislators to ask questions about where taxpayer funds are going and how they're getting spent."

The report listed several policy considerations and recommendations for both lawmakers and OSDE.

The Legislature may consider the following policy changes:

• For new programs or legislative mandates, require the state Department of Education to publish an initial plan for implementation within 90 days of the program’s effective date.
• Specify in budget limit bills any funds that have the flexibility to be used by the State Department of Education to fund other specific statutory obligations.
• Clarify whether funding directives for “off formula” school districts apply only to those schools fully off the State Aid Funding formula or if it also applies to those schools partially off the formula.
• Authorize a grantmaking process for circumstances where a non-profit organization is best suited to facilitate a program’s objectives.

The State Department of Education should:

• Review all new legislation by July 1 of each year to identify an implementation strategy for new programs. The plan should include soliciting feedback from school districts, where appropriate, to identify potential problems with implementation.
• Increase written communications to school districts to include:
  • The total preliminary state allocation from the federal government compared to the prior year, to serve as an indicator of whether schools should anticipate a reduction or an increase.
  • Notification of whether districts should expect to receive per-district preliminary allocations and an anticipated timeline for when final figures will be available.
• Establish written policies and procedures for each division within the agency to ensure continuity of operations in the event of turnover. This should include an annual communication schedule.
• Prior to communicating a plan to districts for implementing a program, ensure alignment of all departments that will be involved in the program.
• Immediately seek written legal guidance when the agency identifies conflicts in statute.