Federal performance review of OSDE raises questions about spending practices

State lawmakers have serious questions for the Oklahoma State Department of Education and State Supt. Ryan Walters.

The U.S. Department of Education is putting the agency under a microscope regarding its spending practices.

FOX23 learned what this means for Oklahoma’s public schools.

The U.S. Department of Education rated OSDE’s finances on a scale of one to four stars.

One star means they need urgent attention and four stars mean everything is good.

Out of 52 categories, OSDE got 32 one-stars.

The 98-page document comes after multiple reports of financial issues within the agency in the past two weeks.

It covers this fiscal year and the last fiscal year.

The U.S. Department of Education looked at 52 categories covering several programs involving federal money and found 32 items requiring action, which is over 60%.

The State Department has 60 days to provide an explanation or change its financial plans.

Tulsa Democratic Rep. John Waldron said if they don’t make the changes, the federal government could take money back or withhold future funds.

Teachers and students would pay the price.

“We have 700,000 kids in our public schools system and they deserve a state-level administration that works properly and supports the districts by working with the federal government and complying with federal law. We’re not doing that right now and that means ordinary kids are going to get hurt, especially the high needs low-income kids who are most at risk in our school system,” Waldron said.

For a look at the full performance review, click here .

FOX23 reached out to the OSDE about this and received the following statement:

“Many of the issues in this report from the US Department of Education are from the 22-23 school year and have been addressed in the LOFT report in June that gave OSDE high marks for compliance and stewardship of taxpayer money.

The now-dated report from the US Department of Education is the first multi-program performance review in the history of the state, and the first of any kind in seven years. The policies, procedures, and documents requested by the USDE were those used or developed in the 22-23 school year. The snapshot of data taken in December 2023 for the USDE report found some areas that needed improvement, the number of which are similar to other states that have undergone this process. The OSDE team has moved swiftly to address these findings, has already resolved many of them, and all will be resolved by the October deadline. Although the full report is not due to USDE until mid-October, the agency has worked quickly and diligently to resolve any remaining issues.”