Mid-Del school district refutes misspending allegations from OSDE

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. (KFOR) — The Oklahoma State Department of Education is accusing the Mid-Del Public Schools District of misspending more than $500k in federal pandemic relief funds, but the district says they only spent them after getting OSDE’s approval.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) sent Mid-Del Public Schools officials a letter on Wednesday, accusing the district of misspending $573,588.96 in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) funds on “athletic lawn services.”

In the letter, OSDE claimed Mid-Del Public Schools spent the money despite getting “guidance” from the U.S. Department of Education which “explicitly prohibits the use of these funds for athletic facilities.”

OSDE ended the letter by demanding Mid-Del Public Schools “return” the $573,588.96 and submit a “corrective action plan.”

News 4 obtained a copy of that letter because the Mid-Del Public School district itself shared it with the public, along with a statement refuting and clarifying many of OSDE’s accusations.

Meanwhile, OSDE did not respond to an inquiry from News 4.

In that statement Wednesday, Mid-Del Public Schools said:

“We received a letter from the Oklahoma State Department of Education detailing expenditures from prior school years that the staff of the current state superintendent has interpreted to be contrary to federal guidelines. We plan to prepare a full response to OSDE in a timely manner, but since this information was sent to the media at the same time we received it, we briefly want to address the issues raised in the letter”

Spokesperson, Mid-Del Public Schools

Further on in the statement, the district didn’t deny it spent the ESSERA II money on lawncare for its athletic fields between 2020 and 2022.

However, the district said they did it “only after receiving guidance and approval from the OSDE at that time.”

The district also pointed out that “guidance” from the federal government OSDE referenced in its letter, which prohibited districts from spending ESSERA II money on athletic facilities, was first sent out “almost six months after the last time [Mid-Del] used federal funds on [their] athletics fields.”

Mid-Del Public Schools also released another letter OSDE sent them back on April 1, after the district submitted its yearly report detailing how it spent certain grant funds.

In that letter, OSDE officials who reviewed Mid-Del’s spending report told the district “no further action is required.”

Mid-Del Public Schools also released a copy of an open records request it sent OSDE back in January asking for “copies of all emails between the Oklahoma State Department of Education and Mid-Del Public Schools related to federal programs” and “any internal email communication among OSDE staff regarding federal programs and Mid-Del public schools.”

Five months after they sent that request, Mid-Del Public Schools said OSDE still hasn’t even acknowledged it.

Mid-Del Public Schools said in their statement they will comply with OSDE’s request to return the money.

News 4 reached out to OSDE spokesperson Dan Isett asking to talk with OSDE officials about the claims made in OSDE’s letter to Mid-Del Public Schools.

Isett never responded to News 4.