Mar
1
Skiatook just the tip of the iceberg?
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It appears that last week’s audit of Skiatook Public Schools showing hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted on over-charged janitorial supplies may not have been an isolated incident of a waste of taxpayer dollars. State Auditor Steve Burrage has said that five other school districts (Butner, Broken Arrow, Wagoner, Boynton and Seminole) are currently going through the investigative audit process. At this point, we have no idea what those audits will find, but it appears to be a disturbing trend.
Looking at the State Auditor’s website, there are 14 school districts other than Skiatook which have been subjected to special audits dating back to 2003. With five more in the pipeline, that would be 20-districts in seven years!
OFRG talked with State Auditor Steve Burrage for an episode of Open Debate which will be out later this week. In it, he reiterates that the school board has the fiduciary responsibility for the district. It’s the board, not the Superintendent, that has the final say on spending. The board needs to ask the tough questions and demand the documentation. The audit report for Skiatook says a simple comparison of invoices would have shown the disparity in the cost of an item and what was being charged.
As taxpayers, we need to demand the same accountability of our school board members as they should be demanding of the superintendents. We need to ask board members the tough questions and make sure they know that the taxpayers are their boss, not the Superintendent.
These unfortunate incidents also show why State Question 744 would be bad for Oklahoma. If we don’t know for sure that the $4-billion school districts get right now in state, federal and local tax dollars are being spent properly, why force the state to put even more money into the system? Had Skiatook been spending the proper amount on its janitorial and security services, it would have something like $800-thousand more dollars on hand to deal with the current budget problem.
We need more eyes looking at school spending and more people who suspect waste, fraud and abuse of tax dollars to come forward to their District Attorney or the Attorney General’s Office. It’s only when we know our tax dollars are being spent properly that we can decide whether the current level of funding is sufficient.
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[...] already been in the news because of questionable spending and the State Auditor’s Office says five other districts are also going through the investigative audit process. We would feel more comfortable about the [...]