Ryan Walters (politician)

Ryan Walters (born May 23, 1985) is an American educator and politician who has served as the elected Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2023 and who served as the appointed Oklahoma Secretary of Education between September 2020 and April 2023.

Ryan Walters
15th Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction
Assumed office
January 9, 2023
GovernorKevin Stitt
Preceded byJoy Hofmeister
Secretary of Education of Oklahoma
In office
September 2020 – April 11, 2023
GovernorKevin Stitt
Preceded byMichael Rogers
Succeeded byKatherine Curry
Personal details
Born (1985-05-23) May 23, 1985
McAlester, Oklahoma, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseKatie
Children4
EducationHarding University (BA)

Early life and career

Ryan Walters was born on May 23, 1985.[1] Walters grew up in McAlester, Oklahoma and attended Harding University before returning to teach at McAlester High School. He was a McAlester Teacher of the Year and finalist for the 2016 State Teacher of the Year. He was also appointed to the Oklahoma Community Service Commission in 2018 by Governor Mary Fallin and Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability in 2019 by Governor Kevin Stitt. He resigned from McAlester Public Schools in 2019.[2] On May 29, 2019 he was appointed as the Executive Director of Oklahoma Achieves, a nonprofit education organization created by the State Chamber of Oklahoma.[3] By March 2020, Oklahoma Achieves transitioned into an independent nonprofit, Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, with Walters as its executive director.[2] Walters resigned from his position at Every Kid Counts Oklahoma the week before his inauguration as Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction.[4]

Oklahoma Secretary of Education

On September 10, 2020, Governor Kevin Stitt nominated Ryan Walters to be Oklahoma Secretary of Education.[5]

On May 2, 2022, The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch reported on a United States Department of Education report which found the Bridge the Gap program Walters oversaw was implemented with few safeguards to prevent fraud or abuse and that federal auditors were investigating the distribution of COVID-19 relief money through the program.[6]

On May 11, Oklahoma House of Representatives Democrats called on Governor Stitt to call for Walters resignation. The Governor's office responded "Secretary Walters is doing a great job fighting for parents’ right to be in charge of their child’s education and advocating for funding students, not government-controlled systems.”[7]

Later in May, Oklahoma newspapers reported that while working as Secretary of Education, Walters remained Executive Director of Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, an Oklahoma education non-profit. Walters was paid approximately $120,000 a year by Every Kid Counts Oklahoma compared to his state salary of $40,000. The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch reported that Every Kid Counts Oklahoma was funded by national school privatization advocates and charter school expansion advocates, such as the Walton Family Foundation and another group founded by Charles Koch.[2]

He was reappointed by Governor Kevin Stitt as Oklahoma Secretary of Education in 2023.[8] On April 11, 2023, Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Katherine Curry to replace Walters after his reappointment stalled in the Oklahoma Senate over concerns of him serving as both Secretary of Education and State Superintendent simultaneously.[9]

State Superintendent

2022 campaign
Main article: 2022 Oklahoma elections § State Superintendent

Walters ran for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction in the 2022 Oklahoma elections.[10] He was endorsed by Governor Kevin Stitt and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.[11][12] During his campaign, Walters promulgated the litter boxes in schools hoax.[13] He defeated the Democratic Party's nominee, Jena Nelson, in the general election.[14]

Tenure

One of Walters first acts as State Superintendent was to instruct the Oklahoma Department of Education to revoke the teaching licenses of two Oklahoma teachers who had been critical of HB-1775, a law that limits teaching concepts around race and gender.[8] In April 2023, the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office under Gentner Drummond, "issued an opinion saying the law does not give the State Board of Education the ability to make administrative rules without proper direction from the state Legislature," meaning Walters's "rules regarding pornography in library books, sex education, parents rights and inappropriate materials" were unenforceable.[15][16] Drummond also said he was not "taking a stance" on Walter's rules.[17] Ryan Kiesel, a civil rights attorney and political consultant, said in a KOSU story that, after asking Walters to show them the pornographic material Walters claims schools have, Walters emailed and had staff members hand-delivering copies of explicit materials to lawmakers' offices, though he never said what schools, if any, the materials came from.[18]

Electoral history

2022
2022 Oklahoma state superintendent Republican primary results[19]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ryan Walters 142,540 41%
Republican April Grace 105,303 31%
Republican John Cox 83,012 24%
Republican William E. Crozier 12,936 4%
Total votes 343,791 100%
2022 Oklahoma state superintendent Republican runoff results[20]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ryan Walters 149,147 53.4
Republican April Grace 130,168 46.6
Total votes 279,315 100.0
2022 Oklahoma state superintendent election[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ryan Walters 650,310 56.8 -1.7%
Democratic Jena Nelson 495,031 43.2 +9.4%
Total votes 1,145,341 100.0
Republican gain from Democratic

References
  1. Maune, Tess (February 17, 2021). "Oklahoma's New Education Secretary Stays in Classroom, Dedicated to What's Best for Kids". KOTV-DT. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
  2. Adcock, Clifton; Gorman, Reese; Palmer, Jennifer (19 May 2022). "Billionaire philanthropists pushing charter schools and school vouchers also fund Oklahoma's Secretary of Education's six-figure salary". The Frontier. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  3. Autry, David (29 May 2019). "Ryan Walters new Oklahoma Achieves executive director". McAlester News. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  4. Gorman, Reese; Adcock, Clifton; Palmer, Jennifer (January 8, 2023). "Ryan Walters steps down from nonprofit role that drew scrutiny". The Frontier. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  5. Prather, Megan (10 September 2020). "Stitt names Ryan Walters new secretary of education". NonDoc. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  6. Palmer, Jennifer; Adcock, Clifton; Gorman, Reese (2 May 2022). "Stitt gave families $8 Million for school supplies in the pandemic; They bought Christmas trees, gaming consoles and hundreds of TVs". The Frontier. Oklahoma Watch. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  7. Palmer, Jennifer (11 May 2022). "House Democrats call on governor to oust cabinet member over misspent educational relief funds". The Frontier. Oklahoma Watch. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  8. "State Superintendent Ryan Walters pushes for revocation of TPS, ex-Norman teachers' licenses". Tulsa World. January 11, 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  9. Savage, Tres (April 11, 2023). "Stitt selects Katherine Curry as new secretary of education, replacing Superintendent Ryan Walters". NonDoc. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  10. Love, Ryan (30 May 2022). "Election 2022: Four-Republican race for state superintendent in Oklahoma". KJRH 2 News Oklahoma. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  11. Forman, Carmen (19 June 2022). "Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's primary challenge: getting his allies elected to state offices". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  12. Severin, Kevin (10 June 2022). "Ted Cruz endorses Ryan Walters: 'Ryan is a tireless advocate for students'". Fox 25 Oklahoma. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  13. Nicholson, Jonathan (2022-11-04). "Man Who Wants To Run Oklahoma's Schools Buys Into Bogus 'Cat Litter' Conspiracy Theory". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  14. Eger, Andrea (8 November 2022). "Ryan Walters wins high-profile race for state superintendent". Tulsa World. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  15. Greco, Jonathan (4 April 2023). "State Board of Education can't make administrative rules without Legislature's direction, AG says". KOCO.
  16. "Attorney General: New Oklahoma State Board of Ed. rules should be void, unenforceable". Fox 25. 4 April 2023.
  17. "Oklahoma Attorney General rules State Board of Education can't make rules without legislative direction". KOSU. 2023-04-04. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
  18. "New education rules, Superintendent Ryan Walters, state park restaurants and more". KOSU. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  19. "June 28 2022". okelections.us. Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  20. "August 23 2022". okelections.us. Oklahoma State Election Board. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  21. "Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Election Results". The New York Times. 2022-11-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
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