Supt. Walters’ Meeting With House Reps. Ends Abruptly

After over a month of requests from leadership of the state House of Representatives, State Superintendent Ryan Walters finally came to answer some questions from legislators.

The meeting got off to a rocky start, when Walters called the Oklahoma Education Association a “terroristic organization” and called the Department of Education a “dumpster fire” when he first started.

After two and a half hours of questions from representatives, the meeting was called to an abrupt ending after a line of questioning from Representative Forrest Bennett, on a recent video posted to Walter’s Twitter. In the video, Walters mentioned teaching the bible in Oklahoma public schools, instead of teaching what he has called “pornographic material.”

Walters answered, “Democrats want to strike out any mention of the Bible from our history.”

That was one of multiple outbursts from representatives who said Walters didn’t directly answer their questions and continued with campaign rhetoric.

Representatives had five pages of questions prepared for Walters, ranging from climate at the department to budget requests.

Walters told legislators he wants to put $100 million towards early literacy programs, $150 million towards a teacher pay incentive and his most recent push- up to a $50,000 signing bonus he says will cost the state $16 million- largely coming from special education funding.

Walters also said that since he took office in January, 37 people from the department resigned, 7 people were fired, and 9 positions are open.

Calling for transparency from the department, Walters was also asked to send in a list of documents including what grants they have applied for, who is receiving Redbud funding, where exactly indoctrination is occuring in Oklahoma classrooms, and copies of emails sent to Walters email "every-kid-counts."

Walters said he will provide those documents to legislators by May 16.