State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ abrupt resignation is a gift to Gov. Kevin Stitt.
Though plucked from relative obscurity to be part of Stitt’s early cabinet, Walters ended up creating nothing but headaches for a term-limited governor who’s now focused on his next step politically.
Indeed, Stitt’s two terms were in danger of being remembered primarily for launching the bombastic Walters’ public career. Now, the governor gets a do-over, empowered to appoint a new superintendent to complete the final 15-plus months of Walters’ term.
Will Stitt select another ideologue who’s more foe than friend to Oklahoma’s public K-12 schools? Or will he take a more statesman-like – a more adult – approach by choosing a work horse rather than a show pony?
Stitt clearly has political ambitions. He doesn’t need a volatile Walters’ clone while serving as this year’s chair of the National Governor’s Association. A smart choice – a healing choice – would end his two-terms on a high note, positioning him for, say, a 2028 U.S. Senate bid.
Who would be a good choice? How about former Shawnee Superintendent-turned-Oklahoma Public School Resource Center Executive Director Dr. April Grace, whom Walters defeated in the 2022 Republican primary? Or Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller, who’s already announced his 2026 candidacy for state superintendent?
Both are, like Stitt, Republicans. Both have strong, pro-public education credentials. Both are uniters, not dividers like Walters. Both likely would be able to rally the beleaguered troops at SDOE and help reverse some of the damage Walters’ chaotic leadership hath wrought.
There are other credible, capable candidates – too many to mention here. The list doesn’t, however, include former state Superintendent Janet Barresi, a school privatizer whom voters jettisoned after one tumultuous term.
If Stitt bungles the selection, he forever will be remembered for the Rogue’s Gallery he recruited into state government: Walters, Jerry Winchester, Gino DeMarco, and Shelley Zumwalt, just to name a few.
As for Walters, quitting early is the best decision he’s made as state superintendent. He spent 33 months promoting himself on national rightwing media while the state education agency all but collapsed around him. At taxpayers’ expense, he hired out-of-state political consultants who rarely showed up for work at the Hodge Building. And rather than working to improve actual education, he tried to cram bogus social studies curriculum and Christian nationalism into classrooms.
How he escaped the long arm of the law remains a mystery, given how public funds were being spent [or misspent].
What isn’t a mystery is this: Walters knew he had no political future in Oklahoma. Any dreams of moving into the Governor’s Mansion had faded even before Samsungate – the nude images flickering on his office TV during a closed-door State Board of Education meeting. His prospects for a second term as superintendent were even bleaker. Now, add the fact he’s a quitter, too.
And proving to be a bonafide one-trick pony: His new gig – appropriately announced on Faux News, rather than directly to voters who entrusted him with supervision of the state’s K-12 school system – is to continue his attacks on teacher unions as CEO of the fledgling Teacher Freedom Alliance.
“We have seen the teachers’ unions use money and power to corrupt our schools, to undermine our schools,” he told Faux, adding, “We are one of the biggest grassroots organizations in the country.”
Cue the eye roll. Turns out the Olympia, WA-based group listed 3,092 members on its website as of Sunday afternoon.
Your serve, governor.
