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<h1>Federal Auditors Need Oklahoma To Return At Least $650,000 of Governor’s COVID-19 Reduction Funds</h1><br /> <p class=”byline”>by Jennifer Palmer and Reese Gorman, Oklahoma Watch <br />July 19, 2022</p> <p><p><em>This story was produced in partnership with the Oklahoma nonprofit newsroom </em><a href=”https://www.readfrontier.org/”><em>The Frontier.</em></a></p><br /> <p>U.S. Division of Schooling auditors advisable clawing again greater than $650,000 in misspent federal coronavirus aid funds from Gov. Kevin Stitt and reviewing a further $5.5 million in purchases, based on a <a href=”https://www2.ed.gov/about/places of work/checklist/oig/auditreports/fy2022/a20ga0011.pdf”>federal audit</a> launched Tuesday.</p><br /> <p>The questioned spending got here from Stitt’s Bridge the Hole Digital Pockets program, which gave $1,500 grants to low-income households for instructional purchases like computer systems and college provides throughout the pandemic.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Auditors pinpointed questionable expenditures like arcade video games, Christmas bushes, sensible watches, sofas, televisions and fridges totaling $652,720. The extraneous objects made up greater than 10% of all purchases. The $5.5 million is the full of purchases the auditors didn’t analyze and will include unauthorized objects.</p><br /> <p>The tally of noneducational objects households bought with program funds was increased than beforehand reported in a <a href=”https://oklahomawatch.org/2022/05/02/stitt-gave-families-8-million-for-school-supplies-in-the-pandemic-they-bought-christmas-trees-gaming-consoles-and-hundreds-of-tvs/”>joint investigation <em>The Frontier</em> and <em>Oklahoma Watch</em></a> printed in Could.</p><br /> <p>Auditors additionally discovered Oklahoma did not comply with federal tips for 4 of Stitt’s 5 instructional aid packages, the report exhibits.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>State officers gave the Florida-based firm ClassWallet a no-bid contract to manage the Bridge the Hole Digital Pockets program and distribute grants to households.</p><br /> <p>The auditors additionally discovered poor report holding for an additional aid program managed by ClassWallet known as Keep in Faculty. This system distributed tuition grants for as much as $6,500 to college students already attending personal colleges throughout the pandemic.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Oklahoma couldn’t present supporting documentation that college students who obtained grants had been truly enrolled and registered at personal colleges, based on the audit.</p><br /> <p>Kate Vesper, a spokeswoman for the governor, stated Tuesday that the state began an inside audit of Oklahoma’s instructional aid funds a number of months in the past.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>“Governor Stitt has known as for extra audits than some other governor in our state’s historical past and is proactive in monitoring and making certain applicable use of Oklahoma taxpayer {dollars},” she stated. “His dedication to transparency and accountability isn’t any completely different right here.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>However the state has <a href=”https://oklahomawatch.org/2022/05/06/state-officials-refuse-to-release-a-report-on-a-troubled-relief-program-where-parents-purchased-tvs-and-smartwatches/”>refused to launch</a> a overview of this system by a personal contractor.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Oklahoma responded by putting blame on ClassWallet, saying the corporate assured there could be no fraud. However the state stated it will take steps to enhance its monitoring of federal grants.</p><br /> <p>In response to the audit, Oklahoma stated that it was working in a ”high-pressure surroundings” because of the results of COVID and that it acted in good religion to “guarantee funds related to Bridge the Hole initiative had been correctly expended when it contracted with ClassWallet.”</p><br /> <p>However the auditors say the state can not simply cross blame to ClassWallet.</p><br /> <p>Oklahoma didn’t say it will return the funds or overview for some other unallowable Bridge the Hole expenditures, auditors wrote.</p><br /> <p>“Because the recipient of the GEER grant funds, Oklahoma was chargeable for making certain that its grant funds had been used correctly,” auditors stated.</p><br /> <p><em>The Frontier</em> and <em>Oklahoma Watch</em> reported in Could the state had returned $2.9 million in unused instructional aid funds to the U.S. Division of Schooling. The audit revealed the funds had been returned to the U.S. Division of Schooling and reallocated in Could 2021 to the Oklahoma Division of Schooling to be distributed to public colleges for summer time college packages.&nbsp;</p><br /> <h2><robust>Oklahoma Did Not Make the most of Classwallet’s Monitoring Capabilities</robust></h2><br /> <p>State officers declare it was ClassWallet’s duty to supervise the aid cash and have threatened to sue the corporate.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Secretary of Schooling Ryan Walters, who’s now a candidate for state superintendent, claimed throughout a debate in June <a href=”https://www.newson6.com/story/629b963c6cbd8a018a615e8c/gop-state-supt-candidates-answer-questions-on-issues-affecting-oklahoma-schools”>that he found that ClassWallet</a> hadn’t upheld its finish of the contract and that he’s working to carry the corporate accountable. However emails present that Walters labored to safe ClassWallet the state contract even earlier than Stitt named him Secretary of Schooling in September of 2020.</p><br /> <p>Beneath the contract, ClassWallet gave the state entry to a system to view experiences and summaries of purchases, however it wasn’t till February 2021 —&nbsp;a month after this system ended&nbsp; —&nbsp;that the previous director of statewide operations for Oklahoma accessed the knowledge, they usually solely did so as soon as, the audit stated.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>The auditors discovered that “​​Oklahoma didn’t use all accessible controls in ClassWallet’s digital pockets system” to observe how grant cash was spent.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Walters granted “blanket approval” to purchases comprised of pre-approved distributors on the ClassWallet platform, which included Workplace Depot and, for a short while, Dwelling Depot. Walters was government director of the nonprofit group Each Child Counts Oklahoma and never a state official when he authorised the purchases.&nbsp;</p><br /> <h2><robust>Oklahoma’s ‘Keep In Faculty’ Program Additionally Lacked Correct Oversight </robust></h2><br /> <p>For the Keep in Faculty program, auditors had been unable to confirm eligibility for eight of 10 randomly chosen college students.</p><br /> <p>College students who attended eligible personal colleges might obtain tuition help by this system. However ClassWallet subcontracted the eligibility verification to a separate firm that routinely deletes emails after 90 days.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>Auditors advocate Oklahoma overview the eligibility of all members, or at the very least a bigger pattern.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>In December 2020, Stitt issued a <a href=”https://oklahoma.gov/content material/dam/okay/en/governor/paperwork/sis-report–print.pdf”>report</a> in regards to the Keep in Faculty program, citing it as proof that personal colleges aren’t only for the rich.</p><br /> <p>“Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Keep in Faculty Fund program proves the robust want of Oklahoma mother and father from all earnings ranges and all places for college alternative, proves the state can present needy households a top quality schooling for a mean of as little as $5,132 per little one, and proves that personal colleges throughout Oklahoma will gladly settle for kids from the decrease rungs of the financial ladder.”</p><br /> <p>Mother and father who obtained grants stated they had been grateful for the monetary help throughout the pandemic. One mother or father stated that with out the grant cash, her daughter would have needed to go away her parochial college in Oklahoma Metropolis for her final 12 months of junior excessive.</p><br /> <p>“Her psychological well being suffered rather a lot throughout the pandemic. That has been the case for thus many youngsters and the comeback has been sluggish. She missed out on…many cherished occasions. I can not think about what she would have gone by had she needed to go away her college, too,” the mother or father wrote. She requested to not be named out of concern for her daughter’s privateness.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>For Keep in Faculty, Bridge the Hole Digital Pockets, and two different instructional aid packages, known as Study Wherever Oklahoma and Expertise to Rebuild, the state couldn’t present auditors proof that aid cash went to organizations “most importantly impacted by the coronavirus or deemed important for finishing up emergency instructional companies,” as required by this system.&nbsp;</p><br /> <p>The one program that did meet federal tips was an incentive grant program managed by the state Division of Schooling. Stitt used <a href=”https://sde.okay.gov/newsblog/2020-07-01/gov-stitt-supt-hofmeister-award-16-million-federal-grants-150-school-districts”>$8 million to match the division’s $8 million</a>, for a complete of $16 million distributed for web connectivity, psychological well being help, and different initiatives.</p><br /> <div model=”peak:18px” aria-hidden=”true” class=”wp-block-spacer”></div> <p>This <a goal=”_blank” href=”https://oklahomawatch.org/2022/07/19/federal-auditors-want-oklahoma-to-return-at-least-650000-of-governors-covid-19-relief-funds/”>article</a> first appeared on <a goal=”_blank” href=”https://oklahomawatch.org”>Oklahoma Watch</a> and is republished right here beneath a Inventive Commons license.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/oklahomawatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/okwatch-icon.png?match=150percent2C150&amp;ssl=1″ model=”width:1em;peak:1em;margin-left:10px;”><img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://oklahomawatch.org/?republication-pixel=true&publish=700222&ga=UA-41441228-1″ model=”width:1px;peak:1px;”><div class="mvp-post-ad-wrap"><span class="mvp-ad-label">Advertisement</span><div class="mvp-post-ad"><!-- Composite Start --> <div id="M815923ScriptRootC1332091"> </div> <script src="https://jsc.adskeeper.co.uk/n/e/newspub.live.1332091.js" async> </script> <!-- Composite End --> </div></div> <p>