The Oklahoma Attorney General says the State Department of Education can and should hand out this year’s security money to school districts that was approved by state legislators.
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters wasn’t sure if schools could roll some of the money over from last year to this year, so he asked for a ruling from the Attorney General, and he said yes.
Broken Arrow Public Schools and Union Public Schools say the money adds on to what they already spend on security and lets them get items sooner that in the past might’ve taken years.
Paula Effland’s granddaughter goes to Oak Crest Elementary in Broken Arrow.
She’s impressed with the district’s security but thinks there’s always room for improvement.
“I know that we have one security officer here that I’ve seen mornings and evenings, but I think every school should have more than one,” said Effland.
State lawmakers passed a bill in 2023 to give out $50 million a year for three years to be used for school security upgrades.
Some districts didn’t spend all of last year’s funds and wanted to carry it over into this year.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond says that’s allowed and told the State Department of Education to send out that rollover money immediately.
Jeff Martin is the Director of Security for Broken Arrow Public Schools, and says this ruling is a game changer.
“You never know for sure what costs are going to be, and so you get as close as you can,” said Martin. “But having that extra money, being able to roll over to the next year, that may be able to get that larger item that’s needed.”
Dr. John Federline, the Union Public Schools Superintendent, says the money gives them the chance to do things that otherwise might have taken years.
“That money was bonus money from the legislature that we were very thankful for,” said Federline. “We received ours and added it to our existing security budget, and we used it for things like staffing, camera upgrades, and secure entrances, things like that.”
BAPS says the district is going to use this year’s money to get body cameras for their security officers.
Effland thinks it’s a great idea.
“Just like anybody else that would get stopped from a police officer, I think the bodycams are great,” said Effland. “Schools especially, with kids, teenagers these days, you just don’t know, and I think they need all the help and proof they can get.”
The program runs for two more fiscal years and each district gets about $100,000 per year.
Walters released a statement saying in full:
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our students and at NO time have our schools gone without security funding in any way. Due to ambiguity in the statute passed by the legislature, there was a question of whether some districts that did spend certain security funds in the previous fiscal year could legally roll over that money to this year. The legislature considered, but did not pass, an amendment that would have removed any doubt about the rollover issue. To get clarity on these legal issues, I requested this opinion from the Attorney General and our agency may now move forward.”
Drummond released a statement saying in full:
“In an expedited opinion to help ensure schools have needed resources for enhanced security, Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a formal opinion today directing the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) to send school districts long-overdue security funds.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters requested the opinion Aug. 12 after news reports surfaced that the OSDE was refusing to let school districts keep unused dollars from the School Security Revolving Fund. In the wake of 2022’s deadly Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, the Oklahoma State Legislature last year established the fund as part of the School Resource Officer Program. Under that initiative, the OSDE was directed to distribute $50 million annually to school districts over a three-year period.
Drummond’s formal opinion, which has the force of law, supports the contention of legislative leaders that districts can carry over the funds from one year to the next.
In an accompanying letter to Walters, Drummond said he found it “deeply troubling” that the superintendent failed to administer the funds correctly. He also expressed frustration that Walters waited more than a year before seeking guidance from the Office of the Attorney General.
“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” wrote Drummond. “I pray that your failure to deploy these funds does not result in deadly consequences.”
Moreover, the opinion notes that OSDE’s own 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 states.
It notes three key reasons that carryover is allowed:
- House Bill 2903, which established the program and revolving fund, placed no fiscal year restrictions on use of the funds;
- The relevant statutes only use “expend” or “expenditure” when addressing the OSDE, meaning that the state agency is the only entity to have restrictions; and
- No constitutional fiscal year limitations restrict the ability to carry the funds forward into a subsequent fiscal year.
The opinion directs OSDE to immediately send the overdue funds to school districts across the state.
“A plain reading of the statute demonstrates legislative intent to provide $50,000,000 in each of the three years of the Program. Any distribution from the Revolving Fund that would give a school district the funding it should have received in a previous fiscal year would not create an inequality of expenditures or unequal division of the funds,” states the opinion.
“This [opinion] corrects the Department’s mismanagement that prevented school districts from receiving an equal distribution of Program Fund and an error that, in [Superintendent Walters’] own words, concerns and puts at risk the safety of schoolchildren. “’