Enid, OK — A new legislative initiative aimed at increasing transparency within the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) took a significant step forward this week. On Thursday, the State House committee overwhelmingly approved HB 1621, also known as the State Department of Education Spending Transparency Act.
Authored by Rep. Rob Hall (R-Tuttle), the bill is designed to make the spending practices of the OSDE more visible to the public. If passed, it would require all purchases made by the department to be listed on a website managed by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), which is already responsible for maintaining a state transparency site. However, current state platforms only provide limited spending details, and OSDE purchases are not itemized.
Rep. Hall emphasized the importance of making this information easily accessible. “So this is out there, you don’t have to request to see it,” Hall said during the committee hearing. The bill is part of a broader push for accountability in government spending, ensuring that taxpayers can view how their money is being allocated.
The need for such a measure became particularly clear after the OSDE’s purchase of 532 “God Bless the USA” Bibles for Oklahoma classrooms in November. The purchase, totaling nearly $25,000, raised public interest and prompted a request for more detailed information, such as where the Bibles were purchased and who the vendor was. After weeks of inquiries, an Open Records Request finally revealed the specifics of the transaction.
Under the proposed bill, this level of transparency would become the norm for all OSDE purchases, allowing citizens to quickly and easily see where taxpayer dollars are going. Rep. Forest Bennett (D-Oklahoma City), who was present at the committee hearing, questioned how the bill would affect future transparency efforts, pointing out that with this new system in place, it would be easier for the public and the press to track and cross-reference government spending.
“This kind of scenario would allow the press, for example, to look at and say, ‘Hmm, interesting, we already paid for these Bibles, and now we’re getting them for free,’” Rep. Bennett remarked.
The bill also comes at a time when Superintendent Ryan Walters has announced a new partnership with Lee Greenwood, the country singer behind the “God Bless the USA” song. Walters and Greenwood are working together to donate more Bibles to classrooms across the state, in line with their belief that the Bible is a crucial part of America’s heritage and history. Walters took to social media to solicit donations for this initiative, hoping to place the Bibles in every Oklahoma classroom.
If HB 1621 passes, Rep. Hall hopes the measure will serve as a model for other state agencies. “We’re starting with the OSDE, but if it works well, we can apply this to other agencies too,” Hall said.
As the bill moves forward, it could represent a major shift in how the state government handles spending transparency, allowing Oklahomans to hold public agencies accountable for how they allocate resources.
