The audit sought to determine whether Oklahoma designed and implemented (1) awarding processes that ensured Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund grants were used to support local educational agencies (LEA) and institutions of higher education (IHE) that were most significantly impacted by the pandemic, or LEAs, IHEs, and other education-related entities within the States that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services; and (2) monitoring processes that ensured subgrantees used GEER grant funds in accordance with pandemic relief aid laws and other applicable Federal requirements.
Oklahoma could not support its stated processes for awarding funds to eligible entities for four of the five initiatives that it funded with its GEER grant funds. As a result, it lacked assurance that $31 million of its $39.9 million grant was awarded for initiatives that aligned with the purpose of the GEER grant fund. We also identified more than $650,000 in purchases made from microgrants provided to qualifying families that did not appear to be education-related, such as televisions, air conditioners, and Christmas trees.
We made 14 recommendations to address the issues identified, including that Oklahoma provide documentation, or a full and detailed written explanation, of the process it used to determine the initiatives it supported with GEER grant funds and the entities it selected to administer the initiatives. We also recommended that Oklahoma return $652,720 in questionable expenditures or provide documentation to show that the expenditures were allowable or that the items were purchased with personal funds.
Implementing Pandemic Relief Laws
This is one of three reports in this audit series, with Michigan and Missouri. See also our Pandemic Relief Aid page for more information on our work in this area.