Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
Tulsa World Staff Writer
Tulsa Public Schools is asking a court to determine how it will pay for outstanding contributions to the Oklahoma Teachers’ Retirement System.
After two hours in executive session, the board voted 7-0 at a special meeting Tuesday evening to authorize its attorneys to file a declaratory judgment action in order to have a judge determine whether the district has to use its general fund or its sinking fund to pay out certain undisputed benefit contributions from previous fiscal years.
However, the resolution approved by the board made no mention as to how much money would be involved or how many people have undisputed claims. Board Vice President John Croisant declined to provide either figure to reporters after the meeting.
The revelation that TPS is dealing with issues with some employees’ benefits through the Oklahoma Teachers’ Retirement System first came to light publicly in late December, when State Superintendent Ryan Walters put Tulsa Superintendent Ebony Johnson on the spot to address the matter during a State Board of Education meeting.
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Johnson told Walters then that she had just learned about the matter upon her hiring to succeed Deborah Gist as Tulsa superintendent. She told Walters that legal matters potentially were involved but said she could share publicly that there is some dispute or question with OTRS about retirement benefits for some TPS employees with supervisory job titles but no actual supervisory responsibility over other employees.
Additionally, a clerical error occurred at TPS that caused some retirement funds not to be paid into the state retirement system for some employees over a period of several years.
In February, TPS’ board approved a memorandum of understanding with the collective bargaining unit for the district’s support staff, the American Federation of Teachers Local No. 6049, to cover both the required employer contributions and the employees’ shares with the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System from Feb. 1 through June 30 for 63 eligible employees for whom an opt-out form could not be found.
“This is a difficult choice, and we’re going to try to move forward in the best way possible, which we feel is the path we’re taking,” board President Stacey Woolley said prior to Tuesday’s vote. “All of these things didn’t just happen right now. We’re taking action to get things right, reset the boat and move forward in the way we need to in regard to OTRS.”
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