Mar
2
Kudos to the Oklahoma House for unanimously passing House Bill 3253 by Rep. Gus Blackwell (R-Goodwell). This will require all spending by school districts to be posted on the State Department of Education’s website, regardless of whether federal, state or local tax dollars are used.
It’s encouraging to see the bill pass without a single “No” vote, especially in light of a recent state audit on spending at Skiatook Public Schools. Having the spending posted online will help catch irregular spending, but simply posting the information is not the solution. It does not replace having school board members asking their superintendent tough questions about spending and reviewing the district’s financial information. It does not replace taxpayers getting involved with district spending by attending school board meetings. With information posted online, it will still be up to the public to review all that spending.
But there’s no doubt that opening up school district spending to public scrutiny will be a good thing. It’s the single largest use of tax dollars in the state - more than $4-billion in federal, state and local money. Before the state spends any more money on education, taxpayers deserve to know that their money is being spent properly now. As we’ve seen with Skiatook - and five other districts that are going through special investigative audits as we speak - that’s not necessarily the case.
OFRG would like to see districts take the extra step of posting the data on their own website along with sending it to the State Department of Education. It wouldn’t take that much more time or expense and would provide even more assurance to taxpayers that the district is committed to spending wisely.
Now that it’s passed the House, the bill will move to the Senate where a similar bill, SB 1633 by Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso), is also being considered.
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