By John Dobberstein, Editor
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued an expedited opinion Sunday directing the Oklahoma State Department of Education to send school districts “long-overdue” security funds.
Drummond said State Supt. of Public Instruction Ryan Walters requested the opinion Aug. 12 after news reports surfaced that the OSDE was refusing to let school districts keep unused dollars from the School Security Revolving Fund.
In a recent interview with KOCO, Walters denied reports that his department took back funds for school security that weren’t spent yet, calling that a “complete lie.
“The question is legally can funds rollover or not,” Walters said in the interview. “We are making sure we have a legal path forward so that schools can use all their safety funds and that they can continue to make sure every kid is safe.
“We are not only making sure the funds the legislature allocated are used for schools, we have millions more dollars we are allocated for safety in schools. We’ve got to make sure money is spent in a legal process, and that’s what we’re going to make sure we continue to follow.”
Drummond’s formal opinion, which has the force of law, supports the contention of legislative leaders that districts can carry over the funds from one year to the next.
In a letter to Walters, Drummond said he found it “deeply troubling” that Walters failed to administer the funds correctly, and he expressed frustration that Walters waited more than a year before seeking guidance from the AG’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” wrote Drummond. “I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences.”
Moreover, the opinion notes that OSDE’s own 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 states.
It notes 3 key reasons that carryover is allowed:
- House Bill 2903, which established the program and revolving fund, placed no fiscal year restrictions on 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 directs 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. “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.”
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