The Blanchard News

Feb
14

2019
From the Desk of Dr. Jim Beckham
Page Superintendent of Blanchard Public Schools
A007 Public Funding for Private Purposes and Private Vendors
A few years ago I attended a meeting in Lindsay, Oklahoma to
Clip advocate for improvement of Highway 76 north of Lindsay to
resized Dibble. The 16 mile stretch of roadway is among the most neglected
32% in the state, as no improvements had been made since the early
1950’s. It’s filled with curves, had no shoulders to speak of - and
several people had been killed in accidents due to its neglect.
Concerned citizens who used the stretch daily were in attendance,
as well as an Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT)
official and the local State Representative.
The ODOT official answered several questions from those who
live along the highway or travel it on a regular basis. His answers
centered on the impending improvements scheduled for the
dangerous stretch. (Eventually, improvements were made to the
first four miles north of Lindsay - but the most dangerous stretch,
where most of the accidents occurred, is still neglected.) The local
Representative was seemingly concerned about the safety of citizens
who use the road, but lamented that there is very little she could do
about it - as it is illegal to direct ODOT to repair a state highway or
direct public funding to a private road construction company.
Everyone in attendance recognized her predicament for providing
assistance, as it is both illegal and unethical for a lawmaker to direct
public funding to private vendors. By state statute, it is also not
lawful for public agencies to “gift” public funds or property to
individuals or private vendors. An example of gifting public
resources would be if ODOT paved someone’s private driveway,
or a county road crew provided gravel for a private driveway.
Many citizens live near the road or travel it on a regular basis
and pay taxes to keep the highway repaired and maintained. If the
taxes paid by all citizens who use the road could get their tax dollars
back from ODOT (probably several hundred thousand dollars), and
use it to repair the most neglected stretch of highway - the problem
could be solved. There is a big problem associated with this way of
thinking: Once tax dollars are paid to the state, it becomes public
funding which lawmakers appropriate to state agencies such as
ODOT. The tax dollars no longer belong to private citizens, but to
the public in general. It becomes illegal and unethical for the
Oklahoma Legislature to direct public funding to private citizens
or spend public funding for private purposes.
An analogy to the State Department of Transportation is another
agency, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE),
which must comply with all the same gifting laws as ODOT. In
addition to the OSDE, the more than 500 public schools statewide
must also comply with all gifting provisions - as they are state
subdivisions of the OSDE.
A few (one or two) public schools are evidently above the law...
or lawmakers have recently changed the gifting laws, for the direct
benefit of their big donors. A case in point would be Epic Virtual
Charter School, a public school somewhere in Oklahoma. Epic
advertises the fact that enrolled students will receive + or - $1,000
in state appropriated funding, which can be spent for “education”
equipment or education activities such as private sports lessons. In
addition, students are provided additional state appropriated dollars
for “referring” other potential students. Some people believe
“referring” is in reality - recruiting. Many Oklahoma taxpayers
believe this practice represents illegal state agency gifting, but only
a prosecuting attorney would really know.
In addition to the potential illegal gifting of public funds, more
illegal gifting evidence has been uncovered... All state agencies
are required by law to properly inventory state and federally owned
equipment. For a public school, it means that an inventory of
textbooks, computers, buses, and all “public owned” equipment
should be accounted... and the state agency is accountable. An
Oklahoma taxpayer, through an “open records” request - obtained
the equipment inventories for all Oklahoma virtual charter schools.
Almost all the inventoried equipment consisted of laptop computers.
One virtual charter school replied that no equipment inventory is
required, since all computers, etc.. are provided by a private vendor
(not the state). Another virtual charter school (Epic) provided over
500 pages of laptop computer inventory, for which it is accountable.
The inventoried laptops were listed as “active” (currently in use);
“dead”; “repairing”; “returned to Epic” (less than ten); or
“unrecoverable”. A count of “unrecoverable” laptops revealed over
8,000 (cost unknown) were not recovered by the state. It is unknown
if the “unrecovered” state-owned laptops were gifted to staff and
students or simply not returned, in effect stolen. Many taxpayers
believe the recipients of the state-owned laptops believe they own
the Epic issued equipment. Only an attorney can answer the question
- Were the inventoried “unrecoverable” laptops illegally gifted, or
simply stolen?

Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.