State Superintendent Ryan Walters said nothing about his pending resignation during what was expected to be his last Board of Education meeting, one day after he announced on FOX News that he planned to step down to lead a conservative teacher group.
He left the meeting without taking questions from reporters.
Media crowded into the room, but Walters’ resignation was only briefly hinted at right before the meeting ended.
“Superintendent, I’ve heard on the news,” said Board of Education member Mike Tinney. “With all things being said here, I do wish you and your family well.”
“Thank you,” Walters responded. “Do we have a motion to adjourn?” When the meeting ended, Walters quickly left the meeting room.
As of Thursday afternoon, Walters’ office had issued no official announcement on his departure to his Oklahoman constituents, who elected him with 56% of the vote in 2022 to lead public schools in the state. Calls to his press secretary went straight to voicemail.
An hour before the meeting, a small, cheerful group gathered outside the education agency’s building with signs that read ‘Bye Bye Ry-Ry’ and ‘NO LYIN’ RYAN.’
A few people showed up with ‘Thank you State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ signs, and there was a brief yelling match between members of the two groups. But the morning was mostly tame.
Rumors began circulating Wednesday that Walters planned to resign. Loretta Autry, who spent 40 years in public education in Moore, said she wasn’t surprised.
“It always seemed he wasn’t really interested in public education in Oklahoma, he was interested in something else,” Autry said, standing outside the building before the meeting. “And it looks like now he’s gotten that. And that’s fine with us. We’re glad he’s going.”
Since taking office in 2023, Walters’ term has been marked by controversy as he repeatedly made national headlines for a push to purchase Bibles for public school classrooms and supporting funding the country’s first religious charter school.
Walters is leaving office to assume the role of CEO of the newly formed Teacher Freedom Alliance, a group backed by the conservative think tank the Freedom Foundation.
The Teacher Freedom Foundation wants to become an alternative to teachers’ unions, which Walters has frequently attacked, claiming they are vehicles for liberal indoctrination in schools. Walters will take on his new role on Oct. 1, according to a press release on the group’s website.
“We’re going to destroy the teachers unions,” Walters said during an appearance on Fox News Wednesday, announcing his resignation. “We have seen the teachers unions use money and power to corrupt our schools, to undermine our schools.”
Walters had a close relationship with the Freedom Foundation during his time in office.
In 2023, Walters was the keynote speaker at the Freedom Foundation’s Teachers for Freedom Summit in Denver. The event featured sessions such as “Teachers Unions: An International Problem” and “Is woke curriculum taking over your subject?” Walters billed the state $552 for airfare, mileage and per diem expenses for the appearance, The Frontier previously reported.
Walters also spoke at the Teachers’ Freedom Alliance launch party in March.
An English teacher from Oklahoma led a prayer at the launch party, according to an article about the event from the progressive watchdog group the Center for Media and Democracy.
“We pray with hope and gratitude that the Teacher Freedom Alliance will work to expose the corruption of the teachers’ unions that work to indoctrinate students, hold back teachers, break down family values, and fail communities,” the teacher said, according to the Center for Media and Democracy. “May this exposure be a blessing and inspire teachers to leave their unions.”
In a statement, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said he wished Walters “and his family” well. Stitt is responsible for appointing a replacement for Walters before a statewide election for state superintendent is held in 2026.
“Oklahoma students remain my top priority, and with my first appointment to this role, I will be seeking a leader who is fully focused on the job Oklahomans expect: delivering real outcomes and driving a turnaround in our education system,” Stitt said in the statement.
Former State Rep. Mark McBride, a Republican from Moore, has been rumored as a Walters replacement should Stitt tap him for the post. A frequent critic of Walters, Mc-Bride said he would be “honored” should Stitt call him, though he said he’s not yet heard from the governor.
“If the Governor wants to tap me to go get things back in order, I would definitely be interested,” McBride told The Frontier. “Stitt and I don’t agree on everything, but he knows my heart, and he knows that I want to make education better for kids, teachers and parents.”
McBride, who said he’s “full blown” back in his construction business, said that whoever takes over OSDE in the wake of Walters’ resignation needs to focus on the future.
“He’s gone. We don’t need to dwell on the past,” McBride said. “It’s time to fix things and move forward.”
Walters has made heated, and at times false, statements about pornography in schools, illegal immigration, teaching the bible in schools, and the Tulsa Race Massacre.
The former superintendent frequently filmed videos in his car, talking about culture war issues like “porn in schools” or immigration, or about not allowing Oklahoma schools to become “terrorist training camps.” Walters said in May he was considering a run for Oklahoma governor, but never announced a campaign.
Before his entry into state politics, Walters taught history in his hometown at McAlester High School.
Walters has long cultivated relationships with conservative school reform groups. Walters previously served as the CEO of the nonprofit school reform group Every Kid Counts Oklahoma.
In 2020, Stitt tapped Walters and Every Kid Counts Oklahoma to send out federal COVID relief money to parents and educators. Later that year, Stitt appointed Walters as Secretary of Education.
A joint investigation by The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch in 2022 found that much of the organization’s funds came from national school privatization and charter school expansion advocates, including the Walton Family Foundation, the primary charitable outlet of the heirs to Walmart founder Sam Walton, and an education group founded by billionaire Charles Koch.
The Frontier and Oklahoma Watch later found that much of the emergency federal education funds Walters was tasked with overseeing had been misused by the parents who received them, after Walters gave “blanket approval” for parents to use the money on any item offered for sale by the vendor. Items purchased with the federal taxpayer funds included video game consoles, gas grills and Christmas trees.
