An Oklahoma Multi-County Grand Jury probe into the state’s management of federal educational relief money found a lack of safeguards for how funds were spent but resulted in no criminal indictments.

“Nevertheless, we find the grossly negligent handling of federal grant money and utter lack of internal controls and oversight over the grant-funded initiatives to be irresponsible, disappointing, and indefensible,” the Grand Jury found in its final report. “What’s more, the waste and misspending of millions of dollars in emergency aid was easily preventable. This

mismanagement prevented the most vulnerable Oklahomans from getting help they desperately needed during a global pandemic.”

Gov. Kevin Stitt tasked Ryan Walters with overseeing two of the five programs funded by $39.9 million in federal dollars known as the Governor’s Emergency Educational Relief Fund. Walters oversaw the programs before he was elected as State Superintendent. At the time, Walters was the director of the nonprofit school choice advocacy group formed by the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce named Every Kid Counts Oklahoma. Stitt named Walters his Secretary of Education in September 2020.

Both federally funded programs were intended to help low-income families with school children during the coronavirus pandemic. The Bridge the Gap program was sold as a way to help parents pay for educational supplies for their students who were unable to physically attend school during the pandemic. The Stay in School program was pitched as a way to help low-income families financially impacted by the pandemic pay for private school tuition.

There were serious issues with how Oklahoma managed the federal relief funds even before the money went out the door, the Grand Jury found in its final report. Serious policy disagreements over school closures and mask mandates between Gov. Kevin Stitt and then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister had degraded the relationship to the point that the governor became adamant that he did not want the Oklahoma State Department of Education to administer all of the relief funds, the Grand Jury found.

Instead, the money for the two programs was routed through the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability, a much smaller state agency with little grant administration experience — and was to be administered by two school privatization advocates — Ryan Walters and Jennifer Carter.

“The evidence shows state officials, though perhaps well-intentioned, disregarded available administrative safeguards in favor of advancing a political and philosophical agenda,” the Grand Jury found.

Stitt’s office issued a statement emphasizing that no crime was committed, and blamed a vendor for the way the programs were run. The governor’s office also accused Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond of “weaponizing” the grand jury process.

“As said at the start of this report, no criminal activity or willful corruption occurred. The state trusted a vendor, that vendor failed to do its job,” Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for Stitt said in a statement. “The AG has weaponized a grand jury to sign off on a press statement his office prepared. Ultimately, this was an inappropriate and unlawful use of a grand jury, all to pursue a headline in the attorney general’s campaign for governor. Oklahomans can see right through this weaponization of the law.”

A joint investigation by The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch in 2022 found that hundreds of thousands of dollars from the $8-million Bridge the Gap fund had been used for non-educational items like video game consoles, outdoor grills and Christmas trees. Records uncovered during the investigation also showed Walters gave blanket approval for parents to make purchases.

Oklahoma State Department of Education spokesman Dan Isett issued a statement Tuesday on Walters’ behalf blaming the programs’ vendor, a Florida company named ClassWallet for the fiasco.

“Superintendent Walters has prioritized carefully and efficiently using taxpayer funds. Unfortunately in this case, the vendor involved did not adhere to the same standards,” the statement said. “Superintendent Walters’s deep commitment to fiscal responsibility and taxpayer accountability has been borne out during his time as Secretary and now as State Superintendent. Under his leadership, OSDE has instituted the highest standards to ensure the most efficient use of taxpayer money possible.”

In June 2023, Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd released a scathing audit report of the $10-million Stay in School program, also overseen by Walters, stating there was a “deliberate operation to give selected private schools and individuals preferential treatment by allowing early access for application submission prior to the date this program was offered to the general public.”

Jennifer Carter, a prominent school choice advocate and head of the Oklahoma arm of former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s education privatization organization Federation for Children, was named as an administrator for the Stay in School program without entering into a contract with the state, the audit found. Carter is also the wife of writer Ray Carter at the conservative think tank Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, which has heavily promoted school vouchers.

The Grand Jury investigation found that the State Auditor received a spreadsheet from Carter  for Bridge the Gap and Stay in School program awardees that contained applicant names, addresses and student information alongside other information that had not been submitted by families including voter registration and political party affiliation.

“This indicates that, unbeknownst to families, their information was being collected

and processed for purposes other than that for which it was disclosed,” the Grand Jury found.

Stay in School was publicly promoted as a way to help families financially impacted by the pandemic, but a majority of those who received funds stated they had not been impacted, causing many low-income applicants to be passed over, according to the Grand Jury report.

U.S. Department of Education officials opened their own inquiry after noticing issues with how Oklahoma was drawing down the federal funds, prompting state officials to take a look at the programs themselves, according to the Grand Jury report.

But a lack of documentation and the fact that the programs were being operated by private entities made investigations difficult. “The absurd result was that government officials ultimately had to resort to asking private individuals from various special interest groups, who had no official relationship with the State, where the State’s federal dollars had gone. Even then, satisfactory answers were not forthcoming,” the Grand Jury found.

The Grand Jury’s recommendations included more training and oversight for how the state handles federal grant money as well as passing legislation to limit state officials’ power to delegate decision-making authority over federal funding to private entities or individuals.