A few months ago, I shared words from a Republican in Oklahoma’s public education system about precisely how our state leaders are defunding public education. Today, he has definitively refuted accusations that public schools are wasting money. Here’s what he wrote.
This will be long, and it will be dry. I am not writing it so much as a rant as for educational purposes. I am frustrated with the portrayal of Oklahoma schools as fiscally irresponsible and out of control. Oklahoma school finance is by law an unnecessarily and extremely complicated system. I have written in the past trying to help the laity understand some aspects of it, but I think it is important and ask ALL my Oklahoma friends to share this status.
1. Lawmakers and media claim that Oklahoma schools spend too much on administrative costs. By law, administrative costs are limited to 8% for districts with 500 or fewer students, 7% for districts with 501-1500 students, and 5% for districts with more than 1500 students. The overall spending on administrative costs for ALL schools in Oklahoma is about 3.2%. MOST districts spend somewhere between 3% and 4%. The legislature has set these limits, and they know every year what every school in the state spends (on everything). This is the case in a climate where our reporting requirements for everything–spending, testing, teaching, etc.–grow every year. The new evaluation system alone has created enormous amounts of additional reporting that must be done by principals taking them away from trying to help teachers who may be struggling. Personally, I don’t know any schools who have added principals or assistant principals since this was implemented.
2. Lawmakers and media claim that Oklahoma schools waste money and don’t account well for their spending. All public schools are required to account for EVERY PENNY spent with the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System. The OCAS was based upon the Financial Accounting Standard 3 and was adopted by the State Board of Education in 1992. While there have been updates to the OCAS over the years, it is essentially the same system adopted over 20 years ago and is not, strictly speaking, GASB or GAAP compliant. In addition, its level of complexity is staggering to the uninitiated. Every expenditure is coded with a 27 digit account code made up of 9 elements. Every penny of revenue is coded with a 17 digit account code made up of 6 elements. All of this is audited annually by an independent auditor and reviewed by the State Department of Education. It is all public record. Every penny a school takes in and every penny a school spends is accounted for. On top of this, the expenditures are cross-checked by the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System, the U.S. Department of Education, the Internal Revenue Service, the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services, and third-parties who provide insurance and savings plans. While some fraud does occur, it is rare, and it is inevitably discovered.
These are two areas that have been discussed a lot lately. Working in schools, and working extensively with school finance, I have become frustrated at the level of disinformation supplied by the media and some of our elected officials. I am trying to help share things that will help the public understand why schools are in such dire straits. I am happy to answer questions and will continue to try to educate.
Import complicated 