Western Heights Public Schools spent millions on misguided expenses, overpaid and underpaid employees, and committed a litany of other financial mistakes, according to a state audit released Thursday, four years after outraged district residents and state officials requested it.
The Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector’s Office investigated the small southwest Oklahoma City district’s 2019-2022 finances. Former Superintendent Mannix Barnes was in charge for much of that period until he was suspended amid a 2021 state takeover of the district.
Barnes earned $1.13 million in total compensation from August 2019 through December 2022. State auditors deemed all of his earnings an improper expense because Western Heights’ school board failed to approve his employment contracts in open meetings…