Tulsa Public Schools invokes Oklahoma law to halt state audit release, auditor says
OKLAHOMA CITY — A forensic audit of Tulsa Public Schools with 'significant' findings is complete, but State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd said Tuesday her office must wait two more weeks to release it.
Byrd said Tulsa's superintendent and school board invoked a state law that requires her office to discuss audit findings with the audited school at least 14 days prior to releasing the report publicly.
An attorney representing the district informed her office Tuesday morning of Tulsa's intent to invoke the law, she said. Byrd planned to release the full report that afternoon and called the invocation highly unusual.
Her news conference at the Oklahoma History Center lasted three minutes. Byrd said she was unable to answer questions and then left the room.
'We called this press conference to release the forensic audit report for Tulsa Public Schools,' Byrd said. 'I've just been told I cannot do that today. The audit is complete and the findings are significant, but you're not allowed to see it.'
The school district did not immediately comment after the news conference.
Gov. Kevin Stitt requested the audit on July 7, 2022. Tulsa Board of Education members E'Lena Ashley and Jennettie Marshall had raised concerns with the governor about the district's finances and an alleged lack of transparency with the school board by then-Superintendent Deborah Gist's administration.
At the time, Stitt said he was concerned with potential mishandling of funds and criticized the district for the length of time it remained closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also suggested Tulsa violated House Bill 1775, a 2021 state law that prohibits certain race and gender topics from being discussed in schools. Tulsa later suffered an accreditation penalty over HB 1775.
It is unclear how much of the governor's complaints will be addressed in the final audit.
The district's former chief talent and equity officer had resigned in June 2022 when accused of embezzling district funds with fraudulent invoices. Devin Darel Fletcher later pleaded guilty in Tulsa federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Fletcher was sentenced on Nov. 25 to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release. A federal judge ordered him to pay $593,492.32 in restitution.
Multiple Tulsa administrators have left the district in the years since the governor requested the audit. Gist resigned under pressure from state Superintendent Ryan Walters and the state Board of Education in September 2023, facing criticisms over the district's financial and academic performance. Several members of her leadership team later followed.
Byrd said it took two years to finish auditing the district because of 'constant obstacles that TPS administrators employed to delay and mislead our investigators.'
She will have to wait two more weeks to make the report public unless the district agrees to having it released sooner. Either way, she said the results won't change.
'This tactic falls perfectly in line with the pattern of behavior that we have witnessed for two years,' Byrd said.
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