TPS Superintendent Questions Motives Behind Gov. Stitt's Audit Of District

Tulsa Public Schools is questioning the motives behind Governor Kevin Stitt's call for an audit on the district.

The Governor said he wants to know how TPS spent $200 million in COVID relief money, but the district said that’s ironic because the Stitt administration was accused of mismanaging COVID funds.

An investigation done in May by Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier is front and center in a back and forth between Tulsa Public Schools and Governor Stitt.

Their investigation claimed millions of federal COVID dollars earmarked for education was given to Oklahoma families with little government oversight.

"When I look at what I see in terms of scandal after scandal under the leadership of Kevin Stitt, I certainly can imagine why he would want to be deflecting away from him,” TPS Superintendent Dr. Deborah Gist said on a Zoom call with reporters Friday.

The investigation found some families used the money, meant for school supplies, to buy Christmas trees, gaming consoles, electric fireplaces outdoor grills.

"Unfortunately, I think the governor has a lot of questions that he needs to answer about some of those recovery dollars,” Gist said.

Stitt said Thursday two TPS board members came to him to request an audit after the district found about $20,000 had been mismanaged.

Now, the governor wants the state auditor to take a closer look at how TPS spent $200 million of federal COVID relief money.

"That particular issue that was raised is an example of something that just seemed to come from nowhere,” Gist said. “The issue that we've been looking into here locally is, there's no evidence that it's connected to those funds."

Gist's thoughts were echoed Friday in a statement from Shawna Mott-Wright with the Tulsa Classroom Teacher's Association.

She said in part, "If he wants to search for waste, fraud, and abuse, he need only look in the mirror."

As for the state audit coming to Tulsa Public Schools, Gist said she welcomes anyone to look at what the district does, but wants people to know taxpayers will be the ones paying for the audit.

"I think it's very appropriate for Tulsans to have questions about this situation. I have questions about this situation,” Gist said.

Below is the full statement from TCTA:

“We find his call for an audit pretty rich considering he and Walters WASTED $18MILLION in relief money given to OK from the US Dept of Ed! You know, money that was supposed to help with the pandemic. They gave $8M to a FL company with NO gov’t oversight. And spent the other $10M on private school vouchers. And let’s not forget that our governor is banned from doing business in 2 other states. If he wants to search for waste, fraud, and abuse, he need only look in the mirror. TPS has an audit every year and no one on the board asked any questions of the auditor the last time he presented his findings at a board meeting (just a month or so ago). Additionally, the Superintendent took action and is the one who reported the information.”

News On 6 reached out to the governor’s office for comment and did not hear back.