OK Attorney General issues order for OSDE to release school security funds to schools

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Attorney General Drummond issued an official opinion on State Superintendent Ryan Walters and OSDE’s refusal to give schools rollover rounds for security updates, as first reported by KFOR.

Drummond orders Walters to give schools the funds which could be upwards of $50,000,000.

From the Attorney General’s Office:

“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. I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences. 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. I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences.”

Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s Office of the Attorney General

Moreover, the opinion noted that OSDE’s 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 stated.

It notes three key reasons that carryover is allowed:

• House Bill 2903, which established the program and revolving fund, placed no fiscal year restrictions on the use of the funds;
• The relevant statutes only use “expend” or “expenditure” when addressing the OSDE, meaning that the state agency is the only entity to have restrictions; and
• No constitutional fiscal year limitations restrict the ability to carry the funds forward into a subsequent fiscal year.

The opinion directed OSDE to immediately send the overdue funds to school districts across the state.

“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.

KFOR first reported the complaint from school districts that said they hadn’t’t received the funding.

In a separate letter to Superintendent Ryan Walters to confirm he received the opinion the Attorney General said:

“I find it deeply troubling that you have failed to properly administer these critical funds intended to protect Oklahoma’s schoolchildren. Of your numerous responsibilities as Superintendent of Public Instruction, none is more important than ensuring the physical protection of Oklahoma’s schoolchildren. Even worse, you waited more than a year before seeking guidance from my office. 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. I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences. The opinion I have issued is legally binding and requires you to act immediately to deliver these
funds. I will not tolerate further delay.”

Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s Office of the Attorney General

KFOR contacted OSDE for a response and asked if they would give the funds and when.

Superintendent Ryan Walters responded by saying:

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students and at NO time have our schools gone without security funding in any way. Due to ambiguity in the statute passed by the legislature, there was a question of whether some districts that did spend certain security funds in the previous fiscal year could legally roll over that money to this year.  The legislature considered, but did not pass, an amendment that would have removed any doubt about the rollover issue. To get clarity on these legal issues, I requested this opinion from the Attorney General and our agency may now move forward.”

Ryan Walters, Superintendent at the Oklahoma State Department of Education

Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat agreed with the AG’s opinion and said:

“I appreciate Attorney General Drummond for issuing a concise and expedited opinion on this matter,” Pro Tem Treat said. “The legislative intent was clear and shouldn’t have needed an Attorney General’s opinion. Regardless, the circumstances we are facing made it necessary. While I will let the attorney general’s opinion speak for itself, I am going to remain focused on ensuring the money to protect children is distributed to school districts as intended and immediately. Lawmakers spoke loud and clear when we passed this legislation. It is now my hope there are no further delays complying with the law.”

Greg Treat, (R) Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore

This is a developing story.

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