Tulsa Public Schools' Year To Start With District's Accreditation In Question

Tulsa Public Schools 2023-2024 school year will begin August 17, with the district’s accreditation in question.

The Board of Education at Tulsa Public Schools will hold a special meeting Tuesday night to talk about the district's accreditation status. Superintendent Deborah Gist said she is focused on the new school year, despite the attacks from the state superintendent.

"It's a mystery to us why this person is using this office that he has to wage this personal and political campaign against our cities, against our schools. It's been going on for a long time and we don't understand it,” Gist said Monday on Six in the Morning.

Tulsa Public Schools said administrative costs are capped at 5% and in the 2022-2023 school year TPS spent 4.03% on administrative costs. "The content provided by Supt. Walters uses a dataset for 'non-instruction' expenses which is not solely 'administrative.' These include 'non-instructional' expenditures such as child nutrition, transportation services, library media, student services, operations, and maintenance.

The district said its graduation rates are at 72% for 2021, and the rates for 2022 are not published on oklaschools.com yet. 

TPS said oklaschools.com/ shows 37% of its schools have an F Grade, not 65%. 

Related Story: 'We Don't Understand It': Superintendent Gist Responds To Criticism Against Tulsa School District

Walters Responds To TPS Superintendent Deborah Gist

In response, State Superintendent Ryan Walters' spokesperson Matt Langston gave News On 6 this statement:

“It is a mystery that Deborah Gist doesn’t understand that kids in Tulsa Public Schools have the lowest graduation rate in the state, that they have more than a million dollars in embezzled money, 53% of every dollar goes to administrators and not the classroom, 45 schools are failing, which is 65% of the schools in the district. It’s troubling that Deborah Gist doesn’t understand that she is the problem. She has had 7 years in charge with no plan. She has sold the parents and the public a bunch of lies. Hopefully, that clears up the mystery for Gist.”

Langston said he got this information from oklaschools.com. The website shows graphics that list other districts with worse graduation rates than TPS.

Dr. Gist recently said no one knows the amount of money that was embezzled, as the FBI investigates.

The state school board plans to discuss and vote on the district's accreditation status next Thursday.

Oklahoma State Department of Education Posts New Video Criticizing Tulsa Public Schools

The video features multiple news clips going back as far as 2009. Some include interviews with current TPS Superintendent Dr. Deborah Gist while others include former Superintendent Dr Keith Ballard. The video features statistics about Tulsa's below-average reading levels and math scores.

The video can be seen below.

Editor's Note: We have asked the Oklahoma State Department of Education to remove our newscast footage from their video. Griffin Media neither granted permission to use the video nor were we asked.

It ends with State Superintendent Ryan Walters saying he will do quote "whatever it takes to make sure every child has an opportunity to be successful" which he says is not happening right now at TPS.

Tulsa Public Schools Responds To Oklahoma State Department of Education Video

In response, Tulsa Public Schools issued a statement detailing what actions they are taking to improve scores.

"We have a plan, Pathways to Opportunity, which is grounded in the science of reading, strong literacy outcomes, and hands-on post-secondary learning opportunities for our students.

Our publicly elected local school board holds us accountable for this plan, and we are achieving and exceeding the targets that the board has set for us. Our focus on reading and math will lead to gains in Spring 2024 state test scores at Tulsa Public Schools.

We continue to work alongside the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s School Support Team to implement targeted interventions to increase student achievement. We are eager to incorporate the State Superintendent’s specific strategies once he shares his plan with us."