TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Public Schools spoke out about a final audit report the district claims they still haven’t received from the state.

Earlier this week, the state auditor claimed that TPS had temporarily blocked the release of the report to the public.

Tulsa Public Schools said they’ve only been briefed on the report’s findings. They said they had to file an open records request on Wednesday for the full report.

As of Thursday afternoon, they still had no access to it and were anxiously waiting to see the results of the two-year audit.

“We have not received a complete copy of the audit,” said Caroline Crouch, the district’s executive director of communications. “On Tuesday, we had an opportunity to meet with the state auditor’s team when we received a brief PowerPoint overview of what we believe will be the anticipated findings of the audit, but today we have not received a complete copy of the audit.”

Governor Kevin Stitt first called for the audit two years ago to look into Covid funding and possible mismanagement.

On Tuesday, State Auditor Cindy Byrd held a news conference to release the audit’s findings but said a last-minute action from TPS lawyers blocked the public release.

Byrd said TPS had cited a state statute requiring the auditor’s office to wait 14 days after giving the results to the TPS superintendent and Board of Education before releasing their findings to the public.

Byrd stated in Tuesday’s conference, “To be clear, the Tulsa School Board and the Tulsa superintendent have the power to let you see the audit report and its findings right now. They have chosen not to. Why? I invite you, the press, to find the answer.”

However, as of Thursday afternoon, TPS said they’re still waiting. TPS said the auditor’s office has acknowledged receiving their open records request.

TPS also said they’ve received the bill for the audit even though they haven’t seen it.

Crouch explained, “In this situation, a school that is being audited is being invoiced by the state auditor’s office for the cost of that audit. So to this point, we have been invoiced an excess of $250,000 for the cost of the audit in addition to the staff time that has really gone into trying to maintain that spirit of collaboration and be responsive to the requests we receive.”

Byrd sent a statement saying the following:

“The state auditor’s office presented the findings to the superintendent and the board members. They have been given ample opportunity to respond to our findings. If they want to submit additional documentation, they are welcome to do so at any time.”

Tulsa Public Schools said they are also conducting internal audits of their own.