School Districts Sue State For Misappropriation Of Education Funds, Now Demands Back Payments

A lawsuit was filed by 48 school districts in Oklahoma alleging that education funds were wrongfully distributed for a span of 22 years. They are are now asking for redistribution of the money which was overpaid to other school districts.

According to Durant Democrat, Oklahoma school districts alleged that the miscalculations of the funds occurred between 1992 and 2014. About 150 school districts have been affected by the misappropriation, which created a huge impact in the education of hundreds of thousands of children.

The losses incurred by these school districts reach millions of dollars. The school superintendent of Ponca City public schools, David Pennington, said that the city has lost state education funds amounting to more than $13 million. On the other hand, Oklahoma City public schools lost up to $40 million.

These losses in state education funds have gravely affected the children and taxpayers and, according to the superintendent, must be remedied. This is why they are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to issue a ruling in their favor which they hope would collect overpayments to other school districts, and those overpayments will be redistributed to the proper districts, said News On 6.

Although the state has already acknowledged the error it made on appropriating education funds, the districts still want back payments. The reduced funding they received during the 22 years resulted to poorer quality education of students, which is regarded as an unjust act that needs to be compensated. The funds were supposed to stay within the local school districts but were erroneously distributed to other school districts in different areas of the state.

According to Pennington, "The diversion of funds violated state law." This violation is basically the grounds for which the 48 school districts are suing the state. Should the wrongfully distributed state education funds be redistributed? Do you agree that they demand back payments? Feel free to share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.