Bixby School District responds to State Superintendent Walters' "inaccurate and malicious" remarks

Responding to questions about why school districts across the state have yet to receive information about their Title I allocations, data which has always been sent to the districts in the spring.

With some districts literally starting school next week, they’ve received nothing - but State Superintendent Ryan Walters, instead of offering any plausible explanation of the delay, chose instead to attack Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller, saying that “We’re dealing with all kinds of financial problems with his district we’re having to address right now.”

He called Miller a “clown and a liar,” but it turns out it was Walters who wasn’t truthful.

As pointed out in a response from the Bixby District, its bond rating is AA-Stable, which is very high, and its latest audit uncovered no material deficiencies whatsoever.

Walters has yet to explain why he would make such unfounded claims about the district’s finances, but he’s also possibly angry that Bixby is among several of the state’s largest districts who have no plans to change their curricula to conform with Walters’ so-called Bible mandate .

Here is the entire statement from the Bixby district:

Response to State Superintendent Ryan Walters’s Public Comments

At a press conference following Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting, State

Superintendent Ryan Walters was asked by a media member to clarify when districts

could expect to receive Title I allocations for the 2024-2025 school year.

In response to this legitimate question, Mr. Walters responded with an ad hominem

attack on Supt. Miller and an inaccurate and malicious statement related to our district’s

finances. Mr. Walters stated, “We’re dealing with all kinds of financial problems with his

(Supt. Miller’s) district we’re having to address right now.”

This claim is slanderous. It was likely motivated by Mr. Walters’s malice toward our

superintendent. Mr. Walters knows this claim is false, yet he presented it as fact to the

media in an open press conference. His claims potentially exposed our Bixby

employees to public contempt, ridicule, loss of trust, and damage to their professional

reputations.

Bixby Public Schools is deeply committed to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

Our unwavering commitment to financial transparency is evident in our diligent efforts to

ensure our fiscal operations are easily accessible to all community members. Our home

page features a link that allows anyone to access all statutorily required financial

information, including our annual audits and bond ratings.

The district’s most recent audit was conducted for the 2022-2023 fiscal year (July 1,

2022 - June 30, 2023). It had no material findings and only one suggestion related to a

support employee’s surety bond. The audit for the most recent fiscal year (which ended

June 30, 2024) will be performed in September, and the results will be shared with our

Board of Education shortly after that.

Additionally, our district’s annual Standards and Poor (S&P) Bond Rating process,

completed in May 2024, awarded the district an AA-Stable rating. This rating, which

reflects our financial stability, indicates that the bond issuer (Bixby Schools) has a high

degree of safety and very low credit risk when servicing its financial obligations on time.

It also suggests that the district has solid prospects for ongoing viability and stable

fundamental characteristics. In short, our financial house is in good order.

In conclusion, Bixby Schools unequivocally refutes Superintendent Walters’ false and

reckless claims about our district’s financial status. His baseless defamation of the

dedicated professionals at Bixby Schools is unacceptable and intolerable.

On behalf of the BPS community, we demand an immediate public apology and

retraction of Mr. Walters’s defamatory comments. We urge our community and

stakeholders to stand with us in this demand. We are resolute in defending our

reputation and will not rest until justice is served.