OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Attorney General Drummond issued an official opinion on State Superintendent Ryan Walters and OSDE’s refusal to give schools rollover rounds for security updates, as first reported by KFOR.
Drummond orders Walters to give schools the funds which could be upwards of $50,000,000.
From the Attorney General’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. I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences. 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. I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences.”
Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s Office of the Attorney General
Moreover, the opinion noted that OSDE’s 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 stated.