The Oklahoma Senate’s budget chairman had a terse message for state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters on Thursday: Show him the money.
Sen. Chuck Hall, a Republican from Perry, made the point in a brief letter to Walters just one day after Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a “letter of counsel ” to Walters regarding the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s yearlong delay in purchasing emergency asthma inhalers for public schools.
In his letter, Drummond told Walters and Education Department officials to act quickly to make sure public school students have access to the inhalers. “Waiting more than a year to ask for guidance, changing procurement methods multiple times and now requiring school districts to individually procure emergency inhalers is neither speedy or responsible,” Drummond wrote.
Hall cited Drummond’s message, as well as the numerous attempts by lawmakers to get the agency to buy the inhalers. Hall wrote that Walters had “a clear opportunity and pathway to do the right thing that will benefit everyone.” He added that “there is now no excuse to not execute the delivery of these funds as expeditiously as possible.”