OKLAHOMA CITY — Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued an expedited opinion on Aug. 18 directing the Oklahoma State Department of Education to distribute "long-overdue" funding to districts statewide.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters requested the opinion from Drummond on Aug. 12 after news reports claimed the OSDE refused to let districts keep unused dollars from the School Security Revolving Fund.
The revolving fund was created in Oklahoma after the Uvalde school shooting. OSDE was directed to distribute $50 million annually to districts over a three-year period.
2 News reported on similar issues after Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller claimed to have not received Title I funding:
Drummond's formal opinion, which is enforceable through the law, said districts can carry over the funds from one year to the next.
In a letter accompanying the opinion, Drummond said he found it "deeply troubling" that Walters failed to administer the funds correctly.
“Those wasted months have resulted in school districts not receiving millions of dollars in funds they could have used to bolster security and protect students,” said Drummond. “I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences.”
Further, Drummond said OSDE's own guidance to school districts was inconsistent.
“The Department also advised school districts that their funds were available for carryover throughout the three-year program period but, arbitrarily and without notice, reversed course and zeroed out the district balances,” the opinion states.
Sunday's opinion directs OSDE to send the overdue funds to schools across the state immediately.
“A plain reading of the statute demonstrates legislative intent to provide $50,000,000 in each of the three years of the Program. Any distribution from the Revolving Fund that would give a school district the funding it should have received in a previous fiscal year would not create an inequality of expenditures or unequal division of the funds,” states the opinion.
“This [opinion] corrects the Department’s mismanagement that prevented school districts from receiving an equal distribution of Program Fund and an error that, in [Superintendent Walters’] own words, concerns and puts at risk the safety of schoolchildren.”
Representative Kevin Wallace who co-authored the original bill sent 2 News the following statement:
I'm pleased with the attorney general's quick response to Superintendent Walters' request for clarity regarding House Bill 2903. I believe the law and the legislative intent was clear that the $50 million per year for three years was to be disbursed to public schools to improve safety. It was equally clear that no constitutional fiscal year limitations restrict a district's ability to carry the funds forward. I'm hopeful schools will receive this funding this week and that our desire to see students kept safe on their school campuses can be met.
2 News reached out to Drummond but did not hear back.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters agreed to an interview with 2 News on Aug. 20.
Read the full opinion here.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
