In a forceful presentation, the superintendent of Mid-Del Public Schools excoriated state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters during the state Board of Education meeting Thursday, accusing Walters of defaming the district.
After the meeting, Walters responded by claiming, without offering evidence, that district Superintendent Rick Cobb has mismanaged funds for years.
The dispute arose from something Walters said during a state Senate budget hearing earlier this month, when he responded to a question from Sen. Brenda Stanley, R-Midwest City, about delays in federal funds reaching the Mid-Del district. Walters said the district — which serves parts of Midwest City, Del City and Oklahoma City — misspent more than $500,000 of federal funds “on lawn care that is expressly prohibited in federal rules and regulations.”
Cobb took umbrage with that assertion and said Walters’ statement during the hearing was the first he’d heard of any concern from the Oklahoma State Department of Education about any such issue. The state Education Department manages federal funds that flow through the agency to the state’s more than 500 districts , including Title Program Grants and ESSER III programs.