Walters’ turbulent tenure reaches quiet end at Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting

OKLAHOMA CITY — Without reading the morning headlines, one might believe Thursday’s Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting was routine, even more tame than usual. The crush of cameras and celebrations outside told a different story.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters dedicated his opening remarks to the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk and went on to present a mostly flat budget proposal for public education next year.

Walters did not acknowledge his impending resignation from elected office, a bombshell he revealed live on FOX News the night before. He told FOX host Trace Gallagher he would step down from office to become the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, an anti-teacher-union organization founded earlier this year.

The Teacher Freedom Alliance announced Thursday morning that Walters would start in his new role on Wednesday.

Gov. Kevin Stitt will appoint a replacement to finish Walters’ term through January 2027. Stitt helped launch Walters’ political career when he chose the former high school teacher to be his education secretary, but the two had a public falling out earlier this year.

“I wish Ryan and his family the best in this next chapter,” Stitt said in a statement Thursday. “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.”

A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office, Abegail Cave, confirmed Stitt does not yet have a resignation letter from Walters.

Unlike Walters, Oklahomans who showed up to the state Department of Education building Thursday morning didn’t let the occasion pass unacknowledged. His supporters held signs stating “Thank you state Superintendent Ryan Walters” while his critics chanted “bye bye Ry Ry” and raised their arms in victory.

The two groups chirped insults at each other as they waited in line to enter the building, highlighting the polarized political clash that these board meetings have become since Walters took office.

Walters spent his final gathering with the board discussing teacher certification and school administrative matters. Rather than making a splash with headline-grabbing budget requests, like he did last year by asking for $3 million for Bibles, he made a relatively mundane funding proposal to submit to the state Legislature, who will make the final budget decisions.

He proposed cutting $2.6 million in smaller programs like Imagine Math, Imagine Reading and Great Expectations to help make room for an expected $23.7 million increase in the cost of educators’ health insurance.

The board tabled the budget request to have more time to review it.

A mostly tranquil meeting ended with a heated back-and-forth when a few members questioned why Walters didn’t include more items on Thursday’s agenda after he canceled the board’s August meeting.

Board member Mike Tinney noted some teacher license revocation cases are on the cusp of being dismissed, and other cases have had no progress for months toward a conclusion.

Walters responded with barbed comments, saying he had decided no cases were ready for a board vote.

“As long as I’m here, it will be my decision of what’s presented to the board, and that’s the way that we’re going to do it,” he said during the meeting. “You guys can sue me, I don’t care. You guys can run for state superintendent, go out and get hundreds of thousands of votes across the state, represent parents and students and teachers. Go for it. Good luck. But as long as I’m in this office, I will be unapologetic about protecting the kids of Oklahoma.”

What no one said was Walters wouldn’t be in office for much longer.

He quickly left the room after adjournment without speaking to news media. The meeting agenda included no opportunity for members of the public to address him.

Tinney made the only reference to Walters’ resignation during the meeting, telling the superintendent “with all things being said here, I do wish you and your family well.”

“It is my desire that we get, if this really happens, that we get a new state superintendent that genuinely cares for the students and the educators and that will work with the board and that will be ethical and honest,” Tinney told reporters afterward.

Fellow board member Becky Carson echoed Tinney’s optimism that Walters’ departure could mark a more positive beginning.

“I believe that the superintendent’s resignation opens the door for us to now make progress on this board and do what’s best for the children of this state,” she said after the meeting.

Widely considered a potential candidate for higher office, Walters instead is making the rare move to resign from his statewide elected position with more than a year left in his term. He has not announced intentions to launch a political campaign, even to seek reelection.

Recent polling showed his popularity tanked in recent months amid a clash with the state board over nude women being visible on his office TV during a meeting. A law enforcement investigation found the images were from a Jackie Chan movie that accidentally started playing.

Walters also appeared to fall behind in fundraising, with less than $20,000 in his campaign account as of June 30, according to the most recent campaign finance reports available.

If he jumped into the 2026 Republican primary race for governor, he would face heavily-funded opponents, including Attorney General Gentner Drummond and former House Speaker Charles McCall who each reported more than $1 million in their campaign accounts in the first half of the year.

Walters, though, has strong name recognition from constant media coverage and his many appearances on cable TV. He built a national profile as a far-right Republican unafraid to push the envelope.

He was elected in 2022 with a pledge to shake up the education establishment with conservative, parent-focused reforms.

However, national testing revealed Walters’ first two years in office resulted in little to no improvement in Oklahoma’s academic results.

State-based testing in 2024 showed significant leaps in student performance, but Oklahoma Voice uncovered the rising test scores were not the result of genuine academic improvement. Rather, they primarily resulted from the state quietly lowering the bar for students to be considered “proficient” in reading and math.

Instead of acknowledging the state’s stagnant performance, Walters abruptly proposed eliminating state testing altogether. He told reporters expected a “very quick” approval from the Trump administration for the plan.

His comments appeared to backfire. Soon after, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon excluded Walters from her August visit to Oklahoma, signaling a rift with the state superintendent, despite him being a dedicated Trump ally.

Fellow Republicans in Oklahoma have voiced frustrations with Walters during his tenure over his numerous controversies, poor administration of state funds and constant focus on culture-war talking points. Democrats made multiple calls for his impeachment.

House Common Education Committee leader Rep. Dick Lowe, R-Amber, said “it’s been a rough couple of years.”

“Am I happy with where our results are of our kids and our testing or whatever? No, none of us are,” Lowe said while speaking with reporters after attending Thursday’s meeting. “I don’t think anybody watching this right now will think it’s good. We’re working hard to get better.

“This is not going to turn overnight. Doesn’t matter who’s sitting in what chair. This doesn’t turn overnight. It takes all Oklahomans to want to see this better, and we’ll work to do that.”

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.