TULSA, Okla. — Crossover Preparatory Executive Director Philip Abode says he first met Governor Kevin Stitt in January of 2020—about five months prior to his announcement that $10 million in federal COVID relief money would be designated to help private school kids stay in their school. Abode didn’t know him personally but says he did know from the beginning that Crossover would be considered one of five exception schools.
“The framing of it as ‘preferential treatment’ for these five schools, like we had some special relationship or in-the-know,” said Abode, referencing public reaction. “Really, it was the governor prioritizing schools that serve vulnerable populations of low-income kids.”
The federally-mandated audit, released this week by State Auditor Cindy Byrd, indicates preferential treatment goes against federal guidelines. Overall, $30 million in questionable costs are facing an investigative audit with Attorney General Gentner Drummond. $6.5 million of that involves the Stay in School fund.
Questionable issues, according to Byrd, include allowing these schools early access to the application portal.
“I don’t remember how much earlier it was than the general public, but, yeah, we knew about that,” said Abode. When asked whether he knew that might have gone against federal guidelines, Abode responded, “No, no. It was our understanding that the governor could use those funds to his discretion as long as they were education funds.”
The exception schools were encouraged to host an open house before the application deadline, which could increase the enrollment numbers to increase the maximum $6500 per student allocated by the fund. Abode says Crossover did not host open houses, but their applications included new students. The fund was designed to ensure students weren’t uprooted from their school due to financial hardship, not to get more students in private school. The auditor also says the money was designed to go to families, not schools. Abode says Crossover received about $500,000 from the fund to allow students to attend the school tuition-free. He says most students have been attending tuition-free through scholarships from the beginning.
Abode says, overall, the school did as the governor directed. The way he looks at it—giving the schools money guaranteed the money was used for its purpose, adding at least it prevented problems like the ones with Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet. With that COVID emergency relief fund, parents were given blanket approval to purchase anything they wanted when it was intended for school supplies. Reports show parents bought everything from Christmas trees to charcoal grills. The auditor says the state failed to verify tuition costs meaning some schools may have been overpaid.
2News asked for a response from Governor Stitt on the Stay in School questionable costs, but were instead given an answer regarding Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet.
"During the COVID pandemic, Governor Stitt had a duty to get federal relief funds to students and families in Oklahoma as quickly as possible and he responsibly accomplished just that.
The State maintains its position that a negligent out-of-state vendor should be held accountable to recover the federal taxpayer dollars in question, and the auditor's report further supports that is what ought to happen," Kate Vesper, Governor Stitt’s spokesperson.
There is nothing in the auditor’s report indicating an out-of-state vendor is, or should be, blamed.
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