Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s right-wing state superintendent of public instruction, announced his resignation on Wednesday night, Sept. 24, on a FOX News Broadcast, according to Channel 9 News in Oklahoma City. Waters said he is resigning to serve as CEO of Teacher Freedom Alliance.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, another staunch right-wing extremist, nominated Walters for state superintendent in September 2020. Stitt will now have to nominate someone to fill Walters’ unexpired term.
Walters’ resignation comes six months after Oklahoma state Rep. Ellen Pogemiller sent a letter to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond accusing Walters of having used state resources to promote TFA and asking the AG for a formal opinion, Channel 9 reports.
Drummond then issued a statement saying, “Ever since Gov. Stitt appointed Ryan Walters to serve as secretary of education, we have witnessed a stream of never-ending scandal and political drama. From the mishandling of pandemic relief funds that resulted in families buying Xboxes and refrigerators to the latest squabbling with board members over what was or wasn’t showing on TV, the Stitt-Walters era has been an embarrassment to our state. Even worse, test scores and reading proficiency are at historic lows.
“It’s time for a State Superintendent of Public Instruction who will actually focus on quality instruction in our public schools,” Drummond continued. “Gov. Stitt used to say he would make us Top Ten, but after seven years we are ranked 50th in education. Our families, our students and our teachers deserve so much more.”
Teacher Freedom Alliance “exists to assist educators in their mission to develop free, moral and upright American Citizens,” according to the organization’s website. Walters’ bio on that same website describes him as “one of America’s boldest conservative reformers, leading the charge to restore freedom, break union control, and return power to parents.”
The website notes that there are 2,786 “teachers enrolled” in TFA. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics Dashboard, in 2022 there were 42,124 public elementary and secondary school teachers in the state.
Walters is the state official who, following the death of nonbinary student Nex Benedict in February 2024, who died after being attacked by bullies in a school bathroom, came under fire for continuing to push the same right-wing anti-LGBTQ policies and ideologies that helped create the toxic environment that led to Benedict having been constantly bullied at school and, ultimately, to their death.
The month before Benedict’s death, Walters had appointed Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent and non-Oklahoma resident and the voice behind the far-right social media account Libs of TikTok, to the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee, despite her blatantly obvious lack of qualifications for the post.
Walters has also been criticized for directing Oklahoma public schools to incorporate Bible lesson plans into the curricula for students in grades 5-12 and sending a prayer video for teachers to show to students, for promoting conservative figures and organizations within the schools, including Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point USA organization, for his constant use of culture war rhetoric and more.
Walters also came under scrutiny in July after two members of the Oklahoma Board of Education said they had seen nude images playing on a TV in Walters’ office during a closed door meeting. Oklahoma’s Speaker of the House said in August it appears that the TV had been tuned to the Samsung TV Plus Movie Hub Channek 1204 and was likely showing the 1985 Jackie Chan action film The Protector which does contain scenes with nudity, according to Channel 9 .
— Tammye Nash