Lawmakers say LOFT reports show continued lack of transparency and accountability by Ryan Walters

OKLAHOMA CITY – Democratic members of the Oversight Committee for the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) said reports presented on Thursday showed a lack of accountability by the State Department of Education and Superintendent Ryan Walters. The reports looked at the application for federal education funding grants and how standardized testing will be used for school rankings going forward.

“The big takeaway is that Walters is more focused on politics than in what’s really going to be best for Oklahoma children,” said Kirt, D-Oklahoma City. “The reports showed gaps in transparency at SDE and gave us more questions than answers about the authority for many of their actions in both grants and in how much weight we give to one-size-fits-all, high-stakes testing. Legislative Democrats continue to demand better.”

Democratic lawmakers said they were concerned that schools are not getting what they need to serve students by the time the school year starts in August.

“The LOFT report reviewing the SDE practices showed major gaps in transparency and the effort to secure much-needed federal funding, which is troubling. Full transparency on federal funding for SDE has not been made public in over two years,” said Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa. “Today, we found out money meant to make our schools a safer place went unspent to the tune of $1.4 million. When will we begin to hold the SDE accountable?”

The lawmakers said they were especially concerned that SDE had not closely examined the harm of proposed rules tying rankings to high stakes testing, and how that could impact children with disabilities and those living in poverty.

“These are students who already need greater resources and tools to succeed, yet the one-size-fits-all testing doesn’t take those serious challenges into consideration at all,” said Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa. “We were told we’d receive additional information at some point. We look forward to seeing that soon.”

To view Thursday’s hearing, go to https://oksenate.gov/live-proceedings, click “view our live senate sessions,” and select “new recordings” for the June 20 meeting.

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For more information, contact: 
Sen. Julia Kirt at 405-521-5636 or Julia.Kirt@oksenate.gov
Rep. Melissa Provenzano at 405-557-7330 or Melissa.Provenzano@okhouse.gov
Rep. Meloyde Blancett at 405-557-7334 or Meloyde.Blancett@okhouse.gov