Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
Tulsa World Staff Writer
Andrea Eger
Tulsa World Staff Writer
Just days after Oklahoma legislators launched an investigation of the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s finances, a scathing new federal report has surfaced that reveals “significant compliance or quality concerns that require urgent attention” by OSDE.
A large team from the U.S. Department of Education from Dec. 11-14 conducted a review of federal programs and $2.72 billion in related federal funding handled by the Oklahoma State Department of Education and then a desk review of a sampling of a handful of school districts, mostly in the Oklahoma City metro area, between Dec. 12-Jan. 11.
Out of 52 indicators reviewed, 32 were deemed so out of compliance or lacking in quality that they “require urgent attention by the (state) and will be revisited until the (state) has remedied the issue,” in most cases between 30 and 60 days.
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Another seven indicators came with recommendations because of “quality implementation concerns.”
State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks during a State Board of Education meeting in Oklahoma City on July 31.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters is facing a slew of questions and criticism about his state agency’s handling of state and federal funds since he took office in January 2023.
On Thursday, an investigation of OSDE finances was launched by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency, or LOFT, after Oklahoma Speaker of the House Charles McCall, R-Atoka, declined a different proposed probe that could have led directly to Walters’ impeachment.
Among the complaints made against Walters during his year and a half in office are that school districts are not receiving timely estimates of federal Title I allocations that allow them to budget for each new school year, that some federal grants have been allowed to lapse, and that money appropriated by the Legislature for specific purposes such as maternity leave and asthma inhalers has not been spent appropriately or at all.
The Oklahoma Consolidated Performance Review Report for fiscal year 2024, which was dated July 25, questioned the OSDE’s internal controls, late annual audit reports and oversight of charter schools.
Additionally, the federal report flagged the OSDE’s record keeping and noted that the agency either did not have written procedures or was unable to find records for multiple federal grant programs, including schools identified for comprehensive and additional targeted supports.
The review found that OSDE is not fully reporting all required data on its school report cards and is not offering state report card translations in languages spoken by sizeable populations within Oklahoma, including Marshallese and Cherokee, that are not available from Google Translate. Federal law requires that report cards be accessible to parents with limited English proficiency, either through oral interpretation or written translation.
Among the specific Title I concerns raised in the report was the lack of documentation that the OSDE is ensuring that school districts are complying with parental notification requirements. Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title I schools are required to notify parents whose children are taught for at least four consecutive weeks by instructors who are not certified for the subject and grade level they have been assigned to teach.
The only two areas where the agency was commended were for supports offered for multilingual learners and data collection efforts by the Office of Indian Education for Title VI programs.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education told the Tulsa World it conducts “approximately four comprehensive, consolidated monitoring reviews of state educational agencies each year.”
When asked for comment on the report, Dan Isett, director of communications for the State Department of Education, released a statement, saying: “Many of the issues in this report from the US Department of Education are from the 22-23 school year and have been addressed in the LOFT report in June that gave OSDE high marks for compliance and stewardship of taxpayer money. …
“The policies, procedures, and documents requested by the USDE were those used or developed in the 22-23 school year. The snapshot of data taken in December 2023 for the USDE report found some areas that needed improvement, the number of which are similar to other states that have undergone this process.
“The OSDE team has moved swiftly to address these findings, has already resolved many of them, and all will be resolved by the October deadline. Although the full report is not due to USDE until mid-October, the agency has worked quickly and diligently to resolve any remaining issues.”
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