Attorney General blames Stitt, Walters for misspending COVID-19 education funds


In a sharply worded letter to Governor Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond declined to re-file the lawsuit he dismissed against ClassWallet last month, citing current state Superintendent Ryan Walters' “flawed judgment.” ” and a “list of errors” of the Stitt administration were cited. Mismanagement of millions of federal COVID-19 relief dollars.

Stitt had to seek the help of a private attorney to refile the lawsuit.

In late January, Stitt announced he had ordered a new lawsuit against Clio Inc., the parent company of Florida vendor ClassWallet, which the state hired to distribute federal funds from the pandemic-era Governor's Emergency Educational Relief Program. was kept. The program allowed eligible families to purchase essential items for at-home education during COVID-19-related school closures.

The lawsuit was filed by private attorney Cheryl Plaxico after Drummond rejected Stitt's January 12 request to re-file the lawsuit against ClassWallet in the interest of “zealous advocacy.”

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In correspondence obtained by the Tulsa World through a public records request, Drummond described the Jan. 23 plan to re-sued ClassWallet as “meritless,” a “pointless exercise in poor judgment” and a “frivolous and sure drain of taxpayer resources.” . ,

Additionally, Drummond warned Stitt's office that he could use his authority to take control of the case.

Drummond had previously taken over a previous classwallet lawsuit filed in 2022 and dismissed shortly after taking office in January 2023. At the time, Drummond previously described the lawsuit as “almost entirely without merit.” It is clear that multiple state actors and other individuals are ultimately responsible for the misspending of millions of federal relief dollars.

Drummond raised the issue in his recent correspondence with Stitt that the state of Oklahoma has allowed “individuals employed by outside entities and special interest groups to operate (GEER-funded) programs, largely without state oversight. Without these individuals did not have the proper experience administering these federal funds.

Of those individuals, Drummond only name-checked Ryan Walters, who at the time served as CEO of the nonprofit Every Kid Counts Oklahoma. It supervised a GEER program, which offered individual grants of up to $1,500 to families for the purchase of curriculum materials, tutoring services, and technology for educational purposes.

The Every Kid Counts Oklahoma organization has since rebranded itself as Oklahoma Parents for Student Achievement, and Walters became Stitt's Secretary of Education and was later elected State Superintendent.







Drummond's response to Stitt

Response of Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond to Governor Kevin Stitt, dated January 23, 2024.


Drummond cited emails showing that ClassWallet had asked Walters whether its platform should ban parental purchases and specifically two words in Walters' response, telling ClassWallet to tell parents all There should be instructions to give “blanket approval” for purchases.

“Although the factual reasons detailed below are why your notion (of suing ClassWallet) is ill-conceived,” Drummond wrote to Stitt on January 23, “I would summarize it by quoting two words from your former Secretary of Education. I can present, whose fault it is. Verdict resulting in millions of funds being misspent: 'Full approval.'

An initial sampling of the program by federal auditors found that more than 10% of the $6.1 million expenditures were inappropriate, including non-academic items such as video game consoles, home appliances, and Christmas trees, and those auditors recommended that The state must pay the federal government for all questionable expenditures.

Subsequently, a more detailed audit report by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd identified questionable expenditures of more than $1.83 million in that program, as well as a $10 million GEER-funded program for low-income families with students Identified suspicious expenditures of $6.5 million. Attending private schools, called stay-in schools.

Stitt and Walters have repeatedly blamed ClassWallet. In his January 12 letter to Drummond requesting the lawsuit on behalf of the state, Stitt accused the vendor of breach of contract and said ClassWallet's system “should not have allowed purchases other than educational resources.”

In a footnote, Stitt's letter says: “ClassWallet argues that it was advised to turn off controls, thereby allowing expenditures for purposes unrelated to education. Of course, in order for ClassWallet to comply with any such instructions, the contracting parties will have to amend the contract in accordance with its terms. This did not happen, and ClassWallet was never released from its contractual duties.”







Stitt's request to Drummond

Governor Kevin Stitt's request to Oklahoma Attorney General Drummond for a new classwallet lawsuit, dated January 12, 2024.


Stitt's letter to Drummond was marked “Privileged and Confidential Attorney-Client Communications” at the bottom. But Drummond responded by disputing that any such connection existed in this case because Stitt was seeking a new lawsuit filed on behalf of the state of Oklahoma, not the governor, and in the earlier lawsuit filed The Governor was not a named plaintiff.

Additionally, he branded the correspondence as merely an “unsolicited letter” rather than a private consultation between attorney and client, pointing out that Stitt filed a 2020 federal lawsuit filed by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Citizen Potawatomi. Drummond's attempt to represent Trump's office has been blocked. The nation is seeking to invalidate the gaming compact Stitt signed with four other tribes. Stitt hired outside counsel to represent the state, and the case remains unresolved.

Drummond wrote to Stitt, “As you recently stated in a plea in federal court, as a result of my office representing your office you are not the 'lawyer he (the Governor) affirmatively wants.' “As Governor of the State of Oklahoma I take you at your word: You certainly do not want this office as your legal counsel.”

A week later, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which is overseen by the governor, filed suit in Oklahoma County District Court. OMES is represented by Plaxico, the ex-wife of former Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter.

World staff writer Randy Krehbiel contributed to this story.

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