Hundreds Of Oklahoma Students Impacted In Wake Of Mismanaged COVID Funds

State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd said the state dropped the ball and lacked government oversight and compliance, leading to millions in misspent funds.

“It could end up being a problem for the state of Oklahoma,” Byrd said.

This comes following a 2021 state audit that found over $29 million misspending at the hands of the state.

The state received about $40 million in Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Funds or GEER funds. This money was meant to go towards education costs to help with remote learning during the pandemic.

“The problem with these GEER funds is that the state abdicated its responsibility to properly oversee and monitor these funds,” said Byrd.

There were five different programs chosen for the GEER funds to go to—two of which were flagged for questioned costs in the federal audit.

One of these programs was called “Stay in School,” which had the goal to help families cover private school tuition for students already enrolled in that private school.

“This was laid out for parents who had faced economic hardship from the pandemic,” Byrd explained.

But the audit found that's not where the money was spent. Stay In School (SIS) had a budget of $10 million to help low-income families, and the audit glassed 65% of the total budget, or $6.5 million.

The program was designed to assist 1,500 or more low-income families who could qualify for up to $6,500 dollars per student.

“What we found was a deliberate operation to give certain schools and students early access for submission prior to this being offered to the general public,” Byrd said.

According to the audit- five schools were given the following exceptions: “Early access to the application system prior to the public go-live date, the full $6,500 SIS limit per student ($6,000 for one school), [and] enrollment exceptions for new students that had not previously attended the school.”

The State Auditor's Office tells News 9 those five schools that got the exceptions were: Cristo Rey Oklahoma City Catholic High School, Inc. (Oklahoma City), Crossover Prep (Tulsa), Mission Academy High School (Oklahoma City) (Also Teen Recovery Solutions), Positive Tomorrows (Oklahoma City), St. Paul's Community School (Oklahoma City).

“And as a result, what we found was over 1,000 students who were given these funds, their parents attested that they had no economic hardship due to COVID,” Byrd said.

Byrd explains this meant that 657 students who had applied for the funds got nothing. The grant funding was given out on a first-come-first serve basis and was exhausted on the 1,073 students. 

The audit also says that the state allowed outside groups who were not under contract to manage the $40 million in GEER funds, saying “The State was not allowed to relinquish those duties to any other entity yet that is what occurred.”

“They allowed outside special interest groups to come in and manage these funds and they did not have the experience required to manage a grant fund,” Byrd said.

There are also concerns over FERPA violations. Those special interest groups were also allowed to collect student’s personal information that wasn’t required for families to receive the grant money.

The application had two questions asking whether the student had a disability and/or an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

“They were allowed to collect disability information on these students, and we have no idea how that was housed or how it was protected,” Byrd said.

The Attorney General has requested an investigative audit that will determine who is at fault for the misspending of the money, along with determining if any embezzlement or misappropriated assets occurred.

From there, they can determine if charges will follow.

“It would be up to the federal government or even the attorney general's office to take any further action,” Byrd said.

The State Auditor's Office is statutorily required to conduct the interview requested by the Attorney General, and Byrd says her office will begin the investigative audit very soon.