Ryan Walters (politician)

One of Walters's 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.

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.

Drummond also said he was not "taking a stance" on Walters's rules.

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.

In June 2023, Walters spoke at the Moms for Liberty national summit in Philadelphia where he advocated eliminating the United States Department of Education and criticized teachers unions.

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.

A member of the Republican Party, he has been a vocal critic of critical race theory, LGBT students' rights, and teachers' unions in Oklahoma and has been described as "the state's top culture warrior".

During his tenure, he has successfully campaigned for the removal of Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist and supported the conservative political organization Moms for Liberty, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as an "extremist" and "antigovernment" group.

Since February 2024, Walters has been widely criticized for his appointment of Chaya Raichik to the Oklahoma Library Advisory Board and stances on transgender youth and students following his response to the Death of Nex Benedict.

Ryan Walters was born May 23, 1985.

His father was a bank executive while his mother worked at Eastern Oklahoma State College.

They both attended Harding University and are members of the North Town Church of Christ where his father serves as a minister and his mother serves as the elementary education director.

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.

In 2018, Walters met future governor Kevin Stitt at a tennis tournament and the two became friends.

Later that year, he published three articles in the conservative magazine The Federalist.

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.

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.

By March 2020, Oklahoma Achieves transitioned into an independent nonprofit, Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, with Walters as its executive director.

Walters resigned from his position at Every Kid Counts Oklahoma the week before his inauguration as Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction.

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

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.

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.”

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.

In August 2023, the Oklahoman reported that the state auditor, Cindy Byrd found, through a state audit that included the Bridge the Gap program, that $1.7 million was spent on various non-educational items such as kitchen appliances, power tools, furniture, and entertainment.

The Bridge the Gap program was overseen by Ryan Walters at the time of the misappropriation of funds.

The FBI is investigating the misspending of federal funds meant to help Oklahoma children learn at home during the pandemic as part of the $39.9 million Governor’s Emergency Education Relief, or GEER, grant.

He was reappointed by Governor Kevin Stitt as Oklahoma Secretary of Education in 2023.

On April 11, 2023, Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Katherine Curry to replace Walters after his reappointment confirmation stalled in the Oklahoma Senate after attorney general Gentner Drummond told lawmakers it was illegal for him to serve as both Secretary of Education and State Superintendent simultaneously.

Walters ran for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022 as one of four Republican candidates in a June primary alongside John Cox, William Crozier, and April Grace.

He was endorsed in the primary by Governor Kevin Stitt and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

He advanced to an August run-off alongside April Grace, which he won with 53% of the vote.

While campaigning, Walters promulgated the litter boxes in schools hoax.

He defeated the Democratic Party's nominee, Jena Nelson, in the general election.

After the campaign, Walters was fined for 14 violations of state campaign finance ethics rules.

He contested 13 of the violations.