Thread by @joekatz45

Thought I'd take the opportunity of Oklahoma's attacks on public education getting national headlines to do a #thread on their GOP state superintendent of schools, Ryan Walters. Because hooooo boy the sledgehammer to the separation of church and state is just the beginning. (1/x)

Walters took office earlier this year as superintendent, after serving as Secretary of Education under Governor Kevin Stitt (also GOP). He briefly held both roles, and while secretary was ALSO on the payroll of a non-profit funded by school privatizers. readfrontier.org/stories/billio…

Walters also secured the no-bid contract with the company that distributed grants to families from federal coronavirus aid... $$$ intended for educational supplies, some of which got spent on TVs and gaming consoles due to lack of safeguards. Whoops. readfrontier.org/stories/stitt-…

Walters won state superintendent while pushing the “kitty litter in school bathrooms” hoax, and is building a long record of hate, corruption, abuse of power, attacks on public education and most recently: basic failures to do his job and lying about it. huffpost.com/entry/oklahoma…

Some bullet points:

- called the teachers union terrorists: koco.com/article/oklaho…

- attempted to pull licenses from teachers criticizing censorship in OK schools: tulsaworld.com/news/local/edu…

-advocated for book bans, bathroom bans and bullying trans kids apnews.com/article/oklaho…

Further, Walters has championed the effort to open the country's first publicly funded religious charter school, and has pushed to put prayer and a "Christian" version of history in our classrooms.

politico.com/news/2023/04/1…

baptistnews.com/article/oklaho…

koco.com/article/oklaho…

Still with me? Because we're just getting to the part that spurred me to pull this together in the first place, a scandal that hasn't quite broken out nationally yet: the possibility that he purposefully cost Oklahoma schools a quarter of a billion dollars.

Walters had promised to reject some federal education funding with conditions attached to avoid “liberal indoctrination” in Oklahoma schools. GOP state lawmakers (who to be clear only look okay by comparison here) were not keen on this plan and said so. cnhinews.com/oklahoma/artic…

Which brings us to May, and whistleblowers revealing Ryan Walters failed to apply for *millions of dollars* in federal grants because they were “too woke” and lied to lawmakers about it.

Rep. Mark McBride has suggested it could be as much as $272 million.
kosu.org/education/2023…

A whistleblower also said Walters has failed to live up to the state’s obligations for previously awarded grants, putting Oklahoma at risk of having to repay them.

Walters response was... a “trap” to identify leakers. Because first things first! kfor.com/news/local/rya…

Now, Walters and his spokesman/taxpayer-funded political consultant Matt Langston are also facing multiple lawsuits from former state Department of Education employees over their firings... which the taxpayers may be on the hook for the cost of defending. kfor.com/news/local/two…

For some context: Oklahoma ranks 49th in education and 47th in spending per kid, and teachers have been fighting like hell for fair pay and more funding for their students. And instead of working on that, they're dealing with... this nonsense. ktul.com/news/local/okl…

The state legislature is… not amused. They’re trying to put measures in the budget to ensure the superintendent can’t unilaterally decline federal grants they’ve previously accepted without legislative approval. enidnews.com/news/politics/…

Walters has been in office for less than 5 months and his term ends in 2027.

If the Republican-dominated state legislature doesn't act, he's not going anywhere.

A viewpoints editor at the Oklahoman has already called for Walters’ impeachment.

https://twitter.com/RussFlorence/status/1663513151025864708

Here is how to find and contact your legislator if you're an Oklahoman. #oklaed #Oklahoma #OkPol #OkLeg oklegislature.gov/findmylegislat…