Oklahoma lands federal literacy grant as questions loom over state's handling of other funds

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $58.9 million grant over five years to the Oklahoma State Department of Education in what the national agency says is a focus to boost literacy rates for children.

The federal agency made its announcement Wednesday concerning Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Grant awards. Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters followed Thursday with an event at a Tulsa elementary school to discuss how the state agency plans to use the grant money.

The award arrives amid larger questions of the state Education Department's handling of federal grants. The latest announcement gave Walters a chance to highlight a federal funding bright spot for the agency, which he leads.

Among those joining Walters at the event were Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Ebony Johnson and a handful of state lawmakers, including state Rep. Chris Banning, R-Bixby, who recently was critical of Walters after Walters called a district superintendent “a liar and a clown.”

Walters said during the current school year, about $9 million of the grant money will be distributed to public schools that apply and qualify through a competitive process to be rolled out in the coming weeks. According to a news release from the state agency, 25 Oklahoma districts will receive sub-grants to support literacy programs within the districts.

“When I started this job, I made a promise to the people of Oklahoma that we would get back to the basics of education, that we would eliminate the political activism and social indoctrination in the classroom and return focus on teaching our kids the skills they need to succeed in college and the workplace,” Walters said in a statement.

“This grant will be a powerful supplement to the work we are already doing and offers us incredible resources to build upon the foundation we’ve built that prioritizes reading, writing, math and other critical disciplines that will enable our kids to compete and succeed wherever their dreams take them.”

Walters said the grant money would be spent focusing on four key goals, including early language development for children not yet in school, elementary literacy proficiency, middle school literacy proficiency, and teacher training and professional development. The latter goal would include providing Oklahoma teachers with training in the “science of reading” and other literacy instructional strategies. The “science of reading” is defined by The Reading League as “a vast, interdisciplinary body of scientifically based research about reading and issues related to reading and writing.”

The federal agency said it’s important for students to read on grade level by the third grade, which is why it made the grant awards to 23 state educational agencies, including the one in Oklahoma, through the CLSD program. It’s the largest number of grant awards ever made under the program.

“Literacy is a critical foundation for every student’s success in school and beyond,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “The new funding announced today will help states, school districts and communities continue to develop and implement evidence-based literacy interventions, and ensure that, together, we continue to raise the bar for student academic success, giving every student the best opportunities to succeed.”

Federal agency has questioned state agency's previous management of federal funds

In recent weeks, the federal agency has questioned the state agency over its handling of about $2.72 billion of federal funds.

A 98-page report, dated July 25, from the federal agency addressed the status of fiscal and program monitoring indicators within the state agency for the just-completed fiscal year. The grading chart for the report ranged from one star ― meaning an area requiring “urgent attention” by the state agency — to four stars, which means the agency “met requirements with commendation.” Oklahoma received one star in 32 of the 52 categories.

In the majority of the 32 items requiring action, the federal agency gave the state agency 30 or 60 days in which to provide documentation on items, update or develop plans, and take corrective action.

Walters has blamed his predecessor, Joy Hofmeister, for the issues raised in the report, even though the time frame in which the federal department conducted its review ― Dec. 11-14 ― came after Walters had been state superintendent for about 11 months.

Walters has said he’s confident the state agency will be able to address the issues raised in the report during the allotted time frame.

Meanwhile, Republican state Rep. Mark McBride, of Moore, the outgoing chair of the Oklahoma House of Representatives’ education budget subcommittee, has written Cardona, a Democrat, asking him to begin a federal investigation into the state agency’s management of federal programs and use of funds.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma lands federal literacy grant as questions loom over state's handling of other funds