Viewpoint: To protect Oklahomans from fraud and waste, school voucher bills should stay dead

Senate Bill 1647 should be dead and buried with no chance of resurrection now that recent bombshell reporting put an extra nail in the coffin for the “empowerment account” voucher scheme.

Gov. Kevin Stitt and Education Secretary Ryan Walters devised the Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet program using $8 million of the federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Funds as a trial run for the larger, universal voucher program embedded in SB 1647. The no-bid contract with Florida company Class Wallet, negotiated by then teacher Ryan Walters before he was named education secretary, gave parents the opportunity to purchase educational supplies to support their children’s education during the pandemic through Class Wallet’s approved vendor list. Even after being given the opportunity to limit what families could purchase on their platform, Walters gave carte blanche to families to purchase anything from their vendors. Journalists from Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier found nearly half a million dollars was spent on things like pressure washers, coffee makers, exercise equipment, smart watches and even Lazy-Boy recliners.

This same ill-defined use of the empowerment account for educational expenses, as well as private school tuition, was a central feature of SB 1647. In this failed proposal, your tax dollars could be spent for a long list of educational expenses that included payment toward private school tuition, but also included music lessons, summer camp, Little League and more to be approved by the Oklahoma Tax Commission tasked with administering the program. One section of SB 1647 explicitly states that the administration of the program could be outsourced to a vendor. Chances are that vendor would have been Class Wallet.

In spite of the fraud, abuse and waste found in the Digital Wallet program and in spite of the fraud, abuse and waste found in EPIC’s Learning Fund, a similarly structured fund, the author of SB 1647 threatens to resurrect this universal voucher program during budget negotiations even though the bill did not pass in either chamber.

Oklahomans deserve better government than these behind-closed-door deals that circumvent the legislative process and citizen engagement. Let these failed voucher schemes stay in the coffin, never to be resurrected and protect Oklahoma taxpayers from the fraud, abuse and waste they breed.

Sherri Brown is the legislative chair for the OK Parent Legislative Action Committee.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Viewpoint: Oklahoma school voucher bills should stay dead