A periodic state audit released Wednesday produced a notable list of items purchased in a 2021 federal program to help low-income Oklahoma families learn from home. during the pandemic.
Big screen TV.
Washing machine.
Kitchen tools.
electric tools.
A “classic Pokemon video cabinet.”
The show is Bridge the Gap. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt entrusted its implementation to Ryan Walters, then the head of a nonprofit called Every Oklahoma Kid Counts. Walters has since been elected as Oklahoma’s director of public instruction.
Bridge the Gap’s mission is pretty simple: 5,000 families will each receive $1,500 to spend at designated retailers. To facilitate purchases, Walters joined his partners in 27 other states to contract a digital outfit called ClassWallet to distribute funds. Every other state establishes parameters for what recipients can buy and reports no non-conforming purchases. But not Oklahoma.
“Suitable system controls have been provided by the digital wallet provider to restrict families’ purchases of education-related items, but those controls have denied by the individual responsible for the BTG program,” Oklahoma Auditor & Inspector Cindy Byrd wrote in her report. The audit added, “Nearly 20% of all purchases were spent on items unrelated to educational learning.”
The individual in question is Walters. Stitt has also put Walters in charge of a program called Stay in School, which has a $10 million budget to support tuition for 1,500 or more low-income families with children in private schools.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
The audit determined that there was “an intentional act of favoring selected private schools and individuals by allowing early access to submit applications prior to the date this program was made available to the public.” they.”
The audit also found that “awards were awarded to 1,073 students whose families attested that they were not experiencing economic hardship due to the pandemic. Sixty-five percent of the total budget, worth $6.5 million in grants, was identified as problematic because funding targets were missed.”
The audit added, “As a result, 657 students from low-income families eligible for the SIS program did not receive the financial assistance they requested because funds were exhausted.”
And that’s not all; Of the total cost of $6.5 million, $1.8 million was paid to private schools in excess of what they charged tuition.
In other words, in Walters’ world, really low-income kids were turned away before they had a chance to apply because all the money was given to kids who weren’t needy but went to school. priority schools, those that receive more.
The following year, Walters ran for state superintendent. He vowed to protest against “everything that has woken up” and continued the cat litter myth in classrooms for kids who identified themselves as cats. He won even though reporters from Oklahoma clocks And borderI’ve heard about some of the weird stuff families bought when he ran Bridge the Gap. He simply blamed the digital wallet company, and that seems to be it.
This is followed by a periodic audit of the federal aid money Oklahoma receives in 2021 to ensure it is being spent according to the guidelines. Byrd announced the results as Walters prepares to go this weekend Mothers for freedom Summit in Philadelphia. He often repeats the call of the far-right organization against “waking up” and “spreading LBGTQ” in schools. He’s scheduled to speak at the “Future of Education in America” panel on Friday.
The audit and other setbacks prompted an anonymous group in Oklahoma to form the Family of 4 Freedoms. Its stated goal was to make Walters a figure in the education past by impeaching him.
“Ryan Walters is a danger to Oklahoma’s public schools,” the group’s website states, which summarizes the audit results and cites “other examples of WHY the Oklahoma legislature needs to arrest the law.” begin impeachment proceedings immediately.”
The website further notes that at the May meeting of the Board of Education, Walters “launched an ad attacking teachers of, by his own definition, sexually explicit material”.
“Many minors attended this meeting, where Walters proactively shared obscene material without giving any form of warning to the parents in the room, eliminating their option for minors left the room before viewing the images,” the group document added.
Walters did not respond to a request for comment on the audit and the various allegations brought by Family 4 Liberty. A spokeswoman for Byrd told The Daily Beast she was unable to comment beyond her public findings because the Oklahoma attorney general is conducting a second investigative audit.
“It has become a criminal investigation,” the spokesman said.
