Drummond: Walters must distribute school security funds

(The Center Square) - The Oklahoma State Department of Education must distribute millions in school security funds withheld by the department over questions about whether the funds roll over from year to year, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in an opinion issued Sunday.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters asked for opinion after questions arose about the legality of rolling over the funding that is part of a school security bill passed by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2023.

House Bill 2903 included $50 million in school security funds to be distributed every three years.

Drummond said it was "frustrating" that Walters waited a year to get an opinion.

“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,” Drummond said in the opinion. “I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences.”

The OSDE is behind some of the confusion, according to Drummond.

“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 attorney general wrote in the opinion.

The bill did not include restrictions for carrying over the funds into the next fiscal year, the opinion said.

“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," Drummond wrote in the opinion.

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat said the Legislature's intent was clear and Drummond should not have needed an attorney general's opinion.

"Regardless, the circumstances we are facing made it necessary," Treat said. "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.”