The Oklahoma Department of Education Won’t Respond
On July 9, Attorney General Gentner Drummond sent a letter to Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters chastising the superintendent for failing to comply with the Open Records Act.
As reported by The Oklahoman and NonDoc, the letter instructed Walters to reply by Aug. 9, which did not occur.
Drummond included a list of 42 records requests and associated correspondence with five news outlets dating back to January 2023 in the letterg for simple requests to be filled.
The Open Records Act isn’t a journalist’s convenience; it ensures that any member of the public can easily check on what their elected representatives are up to and how their tax money is being spent. Its companion, the Open Meeting Act, ensures similar transparency.
Journalists have no special access. They are members of the public who often investigate public work and report back to taxpayers about what they find. When a public agency fails to follow the law it’s saying it no longer believes the public’s business should be public.
Oklahoma Watch reporter Jennifer Palmer stopped by the Department of Education on Aug. 6 and asked to see a document that was part of the Board of Education meeting packet a few days earlier.
The law requires public entities to have a custodian of records who must be available to respond to record requests during business hours. It also says that if a request is denied, the agency must cite the portion of the act on which their denial relies. Further, the law says they must respond in a prompt and reasonable manner, described by then-Attorney General Drew Edmondson in 2005 as the time it takes to pull a record out of the file cabinet and walk to the copy machine.
Viewing a public document is a routine practice completed on the spot at assessors’ offices, police departments, city halls, county clerks’ offices, state agencies, county health departments and court clerks’ offices throughout the state on a daily basis.
Not so at the Department of Education.
After passing through the metal detector, signing in, and telling the receptionist that a request had already been completed online, Jennifer wasn’t greeted by the records custodian, identified that day as Kelly Keefe. Instead, she was met by a security guard, who told Jennifer she couldn’t “just come in and demand stuff” and that she had to “follow the process.”
Jennifer explained this was the process, so far as the law is concerned, and continued to wait.
More than an hour after arriving, the receptionist informed Jennifer that Keefe would not see her and would not allow her to view the document.
And more than a week later, the Department of Education hasn’t responded to that request. It’s sitting on the ever-growing pile of requests for public information the Department of Education is keeping from the public.
We’ve also asked for the video footage of the encounter with the security guard and a copy of the communication from Keefe to the receptionist, which required no more than turning a computer screen around.
Crickets.
We wanted to know how often the Education Department’s chief policy advisor, Republican campaign strategist and Texas resident Matt Langston, goes to the office, so we requested a log of his card swipes, which record each person’s entries. The Department refused, claiming the information was exempt under an anti-terrorism provision.
No explanation for the relationship between someone’s taxpayer-funded work attendance and anti-terrorism protocols was provided. Oklahoma Watch’s only option is to litigate, which means it will be months or years before the public knows what they’re getting for the money they’re giving to Langston.
This week, the Department fulfilled some older Oklahoma Watch requests, two dating back to March 14.
Education Department spokesman Dan Isett responded to Drummond’s chastisement with the department’s usual anti-media rant, this time claiming weaponization of the Open Records Act.
Oklahoma Watch wants the public’s business to be public. Excuses, intimidation and obfuscation are no substitute for following laws intended to ensure Oklahomans know how their money is being spent and how those they elect are doing their jobs.
More worth reading:
Sen. Pugh: SDE Didn’t Pay for Moms-to-Be
The state senate’s top Republican on common education matters says the Oklahoma State Department of Education failed to fully implement paid maternity leave for school employees, leaving school districts across the state in the lurch for untold thousands of dollars for the fiscal year that ended June 30. [Tulsa World]
McCall Quashes Republicans’ Call to Investigate Walters
Oklahoma’s House speaker on Tuesday doused a move within his Republican caucus to investigate the Oklahoma State Department of Education and a fellow Republican, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, with an eye toward impeachment. [Tulsa World]
40% of Housing Vouchers Expire Before Use
In Oklahoma, data shows that only about three of every five housing vouchers are successfully redeemed before they expire. [The Oklahoman]
Among the 11 fatal boating accidents in Oklahoma last year, none of the victims were wearing personal floating devices.
Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
tstreuli@oklahomawatch.org
