Ryan Walters was appointed Secretary of Education for the State of Oklahoma by Governor Kevin Stitt in September 2020, less than 1,500 days ago. However, the four-year saga of Ryan Walters seems to have generated headlines and controversy that outweighs all his predecessors in that position and the position he now holds as Oklahoma State Superintendent of Schools by a wide margin. It’s the athletic equivalent of making ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays list at least weekly for 48 consecutive months. Unbelievable.
After growing up in McAlester and attending college at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, Walters returned to his hometown and became a history teacher. Named 2016 Teacher of the Year at McAlester High School and a 2016 finalist for Oklahoma State Teacher, he was considered popular. From there, Walters’ career and life turned toward politics and public service. Gov. Mary Fallin appointed him to a commission on education after he published three articles in The Federalist in 2018. A chance meeting with Kevin Stitt at a tennis tournament led to a similar appointment in 2019. That same year, Walters was appointed Executive Director of Oklahoma Archives, a nonprofit education organization created by the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce. By 2020, Oklahoma Archives had become an independent nonprofit called Every Kid Counts. There, Walters earned a six-figure salary and was spring-boarded into his role as Oklahoma State Secretary of Education. While serving at Oklahoma Archives, Walters and Every Kid Counts were selected by the Stitt administration to administer $35 million of Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Funds during the COVID pandemic, sowing initial seeds of controversy before Walters even entered public office.
As Secretary of Education, Walters spent two years combatting a small handful of issues, including transgender issues and student bathroom policies. Walters entered the 2022 race for Oklahoma State Superintendent for Public Instruction, a position being vacated by Joy Hofmeister. Walters defeated Jena Nelson, 2020 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, in the November 2022 election. Nelson ran on a platform around the continued loss of teachers in Oklahoma who would move to states with higher pay or leave teaching altogether. Walters ran on a fierce platform of talking about the woke mob, left-wing indoctrination of children and porn in schools. The strong Republican turnout for midterm elections won the day, sending the reigning Secretary of Education into public office in January 2023.
Impending doom
Since taking office 21 months ago, Walters has become a highly controversial figure in Oklahoma politics, making national news and attracting fierce opposition, criticism and calls for both impeachment and indictment. The sources of controversy are numerous and incredibly widespread. From a relentless crusade on transgender/LGBTQ issues and school porn to attempting to use taxpayer funds to fund religious charter schools and recently instructing Oklahoma schools to add the Holy Bible to their curriculum, Walters has become a national poster child for far-right extremists and Christian nationalism.
Meanwhile, his office has been under intense scrutiny from lawmakers and citizens over State Auditor Cindy Byrd’s audit of GEERs Funds uncovering that almost $2 million of those funds were spent on things not related to education. Findings from this audit were picked up by Attorney General Gentner Drummond and presented to the multi-county grand jury in recent months. Just this week, the grand jury released its findings of no criminal wrongdoing, but expressed sincere concern around the lack of oversight and gross negligence demonstrated by Walters and the Stitt administration. While not criminal, the rebuke implied the GEERs funds were administered with the highest possible level of incompetence.
Walters’ leadership, or lack thereof, has decimated the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Over 130 employees left, leaving the OSDE in disarray and seemingly incapable of supporting the public schools in our state. Both the existing and subsequent replacing department head overseeing federal funds grant programs have each resigned and issued very pointed allegations of Walters’ mismanagement and wrongdoing in his role at OSDE. Calls for Walters’ impeachment have been issued by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Recently, a letter to Oklahoma State House of Representatives Speaker Charles McCall to begin impeachment proceedings was signed by over two dozen Republicans.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma schools have clearly suffered, most recently being ranked 50th out of 51 states and the District of Colombia, only ahead of New Mexico. Walters’ popularity has plummeted to levels lower than even Joe Biden earlier this year, putting him somewhere on par with Lincoln Riley (they also look alike) in Sooner State popularity. He has created almost daily fodder for media content and has exhibited a true skill for appearing on television and being seen at right-wing events all over the United States. Even this is a source of backlash, as it was revealed that OSDE was spending tax dollars to pay consulting and PR firms to get Walters on TV and behind a microphone. To make light of this issue, The Lost Ogle unveiled that Walters had engaged in a desperate attempt to secure a seat on a speaker panel and almost anything short of singing the national anthem at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference.
After rebuffing efforts to impeach Walters, State Speaker McCall approved a Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) audit of OSDE to investigate disbursement of funds earmarked for OSDE. That audit is in early stages,but is ongoing and results should be known in the coming weeks. It is almost certain there will be more impeachment discussions and pressure on Leader McCall or for Governor Stitt to request Walters’ resignation. He has been seen as Governor Stitt’s very own star pupil and cabinet member, but Stitt has been seemingly distancing himself from Walters and his antics. In 2023, Stitt appointed Oklahoma State University education professor Katherine Curry to his cabinet curiously on time with Drummond’s opinion that Walters could not simultaneously hold dual positions as State Superintendent and Secretary of Education.
If not oblivious to his potential pending doom, Walters seems to be marching forward at full speed with his Bibles in schools crusade and waging war on the woke mob he says is rampant in Oklahoma, possibly the reddest state in the country. He also has said Drummond and McCall’s efforts are politically motivated to eliminate one of their potential opponents in the 2026 gubernatorial election. Many think Walters hopes to find shelter in some sort of appointment in a Trump administration. This makes his unusually blatant attempt to spend $3 million of public funds on Trump Bibles a current source of controversy.
Walters and OSDE face a slew of lawsuits from educators, students and parents almost too numerous to mention. It seems there will be little room for Walters to operate the remainder of his term as State Superintendent from anywhere but a courtroom or his lawyer’s office. Multiple aspects of Walters’ agenda of using taxpayer funds to finance religious charter schools and teaching the Holy Bible in public school curriculums could easily wind up in front of the United States Supreme Court in a historic argument around our constitution and the separation of church and state.
Oklahomans seem to be feeling Ryan Walters Fatigue and a desire to move away from the constant controversy and unsettling rhetoric impacting our kids and their schools to great detriment. Many legislators have smelled enough smoke, seen enough fire, and heard or read enough lies. Ryan Walters seems unfit to lead or hold public office. Time will tell if Oklahoma’s predominantly Republican lawmakers take any action, finally seeing Ryan Walters for what he has become: a political liability for their party and our state.
This article appears in Bigger than basketball.