Thread by @sarahgraysaid

🧵 abt @GovStitt being sketch, per usual.

Have y’all heard of GEER funds? I hadn’t either until recently. Funded through the CARES Act, GEER stands for Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund. Stitt had access to $39.9 mil. How was it spent? /1

We need an audit - urgently. Stitt earmarked $30 mil to these 3 programs - Learn Anywhere Oklahoma, Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet and Stay in School Funds. 

Here’s a press release from ‘20 where Stitt made sure to say the funds could be given to private schools 🙃 #GEERAudit /2

“Bridge the Digital Gap Wallet” sounds like a great program… it provides $1500 grants to low-income families for purchasing curriculum content, tutoring etc.

Cool, cool. So who is overseeing the $8 mil. allocated for this program?

Every Kid Count OK - led by Ryan Walters /3

If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Walters is our Secretary of Education. Funding was announced in July ‘20 & by Sept. ‘20, the EKCO CEO was out Ed. Sec. so of course he resigned from his CEO position, right? To avoid a massive financial/ethical conflict of interest? /4

Nope! Walters is said “get you a grifter who can do both.” /5

nondoc.com/2020/09/10/sti…

So that’s a cause for concern. Especially consider Sec. Walters is now running for State Superintendent (spoiler alert, I won’t be voting for him.)

Can’t help but wonder if he plans to retain his job as CEO of ECKO if he gets elected…? /6

nondoc.com/2021/07/12/rya…

“But Sarah, that’s only $8 million of $39.9 mil. What about the rest?” Thanks for asking. @GovStitt also allocated $10 mil for students who ALREADY attend private schools. And he picked the Private School Accrediting Commission to oversee the funds /7

Based on OPSAC’s report, in which they presented absolute minimal data, nearly half (43%) of the families who received the private school grants of $5k avg per student didn’t even qualify for reduced lunches 👀 /8

They tout this figure, for reasons I do not understand…. /9

And then this paragraph, which would be hilariously cringey if it wasn’t so gross….

Keep in mind, the students had already be attending private school to receive the grant. /10

Here’s the link to the “full report” if you can even call it that. 2/8 pages have narrative data. 3/8 are drawings/pictures. 2/8 are just the private schools who got the money. And the last one is simply this lol. /11

opsac.org/uploads/1/1/1/…

What is the demographic breakdown of the students who received these grants? How much $$$ went to each school?

All questions that should be easy to answer with a full and comprehensive audit of the GEER Funds. #GEERAudit /12

Here’s a breakdown of where the $$ went, according to @GovStitt’s end of the year report for 2020.

/13

Also, someone please help me understand how any self-respecting public servant could write this out for a state press release and not see an issue with Walters commenting on this as the Ed Sec AND the CEO of the company receiving millions of federal funds /14

It would shocking to me if the federal government (hi @usedgov, @SecCardona, @JusticeOIG) didn’t have any interest in more thorough reporting on how this money was spent. And by all means, if there are more detailed reports I’ll happily check them out & update this thread /15

Anyways, that’s what’s on my mind right now. 🙂

We need an audit of the GEER Fund spending. Nothing wrong with a little more transparency, am I right? #GEERAudit /end