Questions raised about transparency of Oklahoma City Public Schools $955M bond projects

Questions about the $955 million Oklahoma City Public Schools bond issue wound their way through a marathon district Board of Education meeting that lasted more than four-and-a-half hours on Monday night. The major project has drawn scrutiny into how the money will be spent and if the district is being transparent enough.

After a discussion lasting more than an hour, the board voted unanimously to approve a lease-purchase agreement that would allow the district to access up to $500 million of the bond money immediately, key if the district is to keep its promise to have projects listed in the bond – approved by voters in November 2022 – open for student use by 2026.

Lease-purchase agreements – which result in interest payments on projects – are commonly used by other Oklahoma districts, but this will be the first time the Oklahoma City district has used them instead of general obligation bonds, which provide the same amount of money, but over a greater length of time.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, former district board chair Cliff Hudson urged current board members to either table or reject the proposal from district staff, given it was the first time the proposal was presented in a public meeting.

Current Board Chair Paula Lewis apologized “to the public, our voters … and to my fellow board members … for any part that I, as my chair role, contributed to the lack of transparency that all three public comments addressed tonight.”

She also expressed irritation about how the situation happened.

“There has been a pattern in the last couple of years that the district brings an action item to the board that needs (to be) approved quickly,” Lewis said. “It always comes with, ‘If you don’t do this, then students are going to be harmed.’ But what this does, when we do a short turnaround, is it limits the opportunity for the board members to ask questions and to understand the information and hear from our community.”

During the long discussion, all eight board members weighed in at some point, with some, including Adrian Anderson and Juan Lecona, joining Lewis in expressing transparency concerns. But the board approved the proposal after they were told any delays in approval likely would make it nearly impossible to fulfill the district’s 2026 promise. The district’s chief operations officer, Scott Randall, apologized to board members for the delay by district staff in presenting the proposal publicly.

Citizens Oversight Committee member, Capitol Hill alums also question district's transparency about bond projects

Transparency issues concerning bond projects also were expressed in a public comment by Shawntay Alexander, who serves on the bond’s Citizens Oversight Committee. Alexander said outgoing district Superintendent Sean McDaniel promised committee members they would ensure accountability for how bond money was spent.

“However, post-passage, the committee's oversight was immediately limited, raising concerns about the bond's transparency,” Alexander said. “We were notified by the district that rather than overseeing the entire $955 million bond expenditure, we would only be provided fragmented updates. These updates will solely pertain to the district's self-reported timeliness and adherence to the budget for campaign projects, effectively eliminating any meaningful oversight for hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, this approach restricts the scope of our oversight.”

Alexander asked the district board to make the Citizens Oversight Committee meetings open to the public, which could "greatly improve transparency, accountability, inclusion, and equity in regard to the $955 million school bond,” she said.

Another group that’s expressed concerns about bond-project transparency is a group of alumni from Capitol Hill High School, who have for months sought reassurances that the historic school building, which opened in 1928, wouldn’t be demolished as part of the construction of a new school building promised as part of the bond proposal.

They apparently received their wish. By a 7-1 vote, the board approved civil and structural plans for the site. Randall said the demolition of the current school building is not in the scope of work for the contractors on the project. In an answer to a question by board member Meg McElhaney, Randall said three other buildings on the site – including the historic Capitol Hill Sports Arena, which dates from the 1950s – eventually would be demolished to create room for the new high school building.

During a discussion about a separate redevelopment project of a former district school site, Lecona asked if the same thing could be done with the old Capitol Hill building. He received an affirmative answer.

“I’m super excited with this progress and this direction,” said McElhaney, whose voting district includes Capitol Hill. “I love to see old buildings preserved.”

Michael Smith, the leader of the group seeking to preserve the old building, expressed his pleasure at the development during public comment, telling the board, “Our desires and wishes have apparently been heard. I’m going to declare victory and move on.”

New member joins board while departure of another member is announced

The board meeting was the first for 25-year-old Jessica Cifuentes, who defeated former member Cary Pirrong earlier this month in an election for the District 3 seat on the board. She was sworn in at the start of the meeting. Cifuentes is the first person of Guatemalan descent to have a seat on the board. District officials were uncertain if she’s the youngest member ever of the board.

Meanwhile, the board announced Anderson, the District 5 representative, was resigning because he moved outside of that district. He was elected to the board in April 2022. Lewis said the seat will be filled via a special election during the next 60 days, with the application window for candidates opening this week. The board adopted resolutions honoring both Anderson and Pirrong.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC schools' board meeting becomes forum for transparency questions