He once called Oklahoma’s teachers union a “terrorist organization.” Now state Superintendent Ryan Walters is threatening to “destroy” teachers unions nationwide.
A former small-town history teacher who waged a culture war against educators over issues such as sexually explicit books and criticism of President Donald Trump, Walters announced his resignation Wednesday night to become CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, an anti-union initiative of the Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank.
“We will build an army of teachers to defeat the teachers unions once and for all,” he told Fox News. “This fight is going national and we will get our schools back.”
Walters was expected to run in the Republican primary for governor next year. But he had increasingly alienated “pretty much everyone” in state leadership, said Deven Carlson, a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma. “I do think there was still some grassroots support in pockets of the state, but it wasn’t clear how that was going to translate to the things you might need to win, say, the 2026 governor’s election.”
First as education secretary to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and then as the state’s elected schools chief for nearly three years, Walters established a reputation for a headline-grabbing and at times even outlandish brand of Christian nationalism. Even before his election in 2022, Walters singled out teachers he considered too “woke” for Oklahoma schools. Once in office, he moved quickly to revoke the teaching certificates of educators accused of violating laws against so-called “divisive concepts.”
With little initial opposition from the state’s GOP majority, he made news almost daily for controversial actions such as threatening to take over the Tulsa schools and mandating Trump-endorsed classroom Bibles. As recently as this week, he announced that every high school in Oklahoma would have a chapter of Turning Point USA, the youth-focused conservative organization Charlie Kirk founded in 2012. Most of the Wednesday’s Fox news show Walters joined focused on the growth of the organization since Kirk was killed Sept. 10 in Utah.
“We’ve never seen a national movement like this of so many kids, so many parents so willing to step up and say, ‘Listen, we have got to get the country back on track.’ ” he said. “We’ve got to turn away from this radical leftism.”
As Walters kept a busy calendar of appearances on right-wing media, at home, Republican lawmakers began criticizing the state chief for financial missteps, like delaying funds to schools for security upgrades. Former state officials said he failed to communicate about routine state business. He promoted stronger literacy instruction, recently launching a new tutoring initiative, but his divisive manner overshadowed his efforts to focus on learning.
One Republican who repeatedly questioned Walters’ competence for the job and supported investigations into whether he should be impeached said the superintendent’s departure is a “very positive move for Oklahoma.”
Former state Rep. Mark McBride said he hopes the person Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt appoints as an interim replacement has “no agenda other than working with students and teachers to improve outcomes.” McBride, who led an education subcommittee in the House, said he would also “love to serve Oklahoma in this capacity,” but had not yet spoken with the governor about the possibility.
Walters was an early advocate of the Freedom Foundation’s efforts to weaken the teachers unions. He appeared at the group’s 2023 and 2024 Teacher Freedom Summits.
“They’re about power and they’re about money,” he said of the unions at last year’s event. “They could care less about student test scores.”
When the foundation launched the new Alliance earlier this year, Walters issued a press release endorsing the initiative, which prompted a state lawmaker to ask Oklahoma’s attorney general to investigate its legality.
Corey DeAngelis, a school choice advocate and outspoken union critic, said Walters is the right person for the job.
“Ryan Walters has the tenacity needed to take the unions head on,” said DeAngelis, a senior fellow with the American Culture Project, an effort to mobilize independent voters around issues such as school choice and tax relief. “His fearless advocacy against the status quo is exactly what we need to lead a mass exodus from the teachers union cartel.”
An enthusiastic MAGA supporter, Walters frequently voiced his admiration for President Trump, even directing schools last year to show a video of him praying for the president.
But the administration hasn’t always reciprocated.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon reportedly snubbed him during an August stop to the state. Carlson suggested the Education Department likely coordinated the visit with Stitt’s office and, with “little love lost” between the two men, “Walters didn’t make the itinerary.”
Department officials have also been critical so far of his proposal to eliminate federal testing requirements in the state and said he was wrong to suggest McMahon would likely approve it.
While Stitt, current chair of the National Governor’s Association, initially supported Walters’ political aspirations, the two were no longer “on the same page,” Carlson said. “I think the governor became frustrated with the effects that Walters initiatives were having on his economic development agenda.”
The state, for example, received negative attention for being 50th in education in one ranking.
Not long before Walters jumped into politics, he was an award-winning history teacher in the McAlester school district, not far from the Arkansas state line. Former students saw him as fair and inclusive, not the anti-LGBTQ firebrand he later became as state superintendent. His love for teaching impressed McBride when the two first met in 2018.
Despite a string of scandals, Walters always bounced back. A probe into his management of state funds last year found no misconduct or missing money. Most recently, he was cleared of any criminal charges following an investigation into why a movie with nude scenes, Jackie Chan’s 1985 action film “The Protector,” was playing on a TV in his office during a state school board meeting. Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna said she found insufficient evidence that he had broken the law.
‘Constant distraction’
The episode was one of many that kept Walters in the news. Education advocates, who Walters frequently accused of indoctrinating students with left-wing ideas, largely expressed relief Wednesday night.
“We can get back to the true focus of teaching without the constant distraction and headlines from the state superintendent,” said Jami Jackson-Cole, a teacher who moderates a Facebook group of Oklahoma educators and advocates.
As Walters departs next month, they’re wondering who will take his seat, not just for the remaining 15 months of his term, but in the 2026 election.
Along with McBride, others rumored to be possible candidates for interim superintendent include Nellie Sanders, Stitt’s education secretary. A former member of a charter board, she voted in favor of approving the nation’s first religious charter school. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court split 4-4 on whether the school violated the First Amendment, allowing the state supreme court’s decision prohibiting tax dollars from funding the school to stand.
Regardless of who completes the rest of Walters’ term, advocates are also beginning to examine the records of those running for state superintendent. Republican candidates include Rob Miller and John Cox, two superintendents. Two former Tulsa board members, Democrat Jennettie Marshall and independent Jerry Griffin, have also filed paperwork to enter the race.
With Walters “being out of the picture, maybe Oklahomans who are serious about public education can now get to work turning this ship around,” said Erika Wright, an education organizer for Oklahoma Appleseed, a nonprofit law firm.
She’s been working with a coalition of organizations to develop a five-year agenda for the state’s schools that focuses on the teaching profession, student performance, funding for education and school safety.
“The possibilities that lie before us are really exciting,” she said, “but the work is not done.”
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