State Lawmaker Reacts To State Superintendent Subpoena

The state house has subpoenaed State Superintendent Ryan Walters, giving him two weeks to turn in a handful of documents. This comes after more than a year of what House education chair Mark McBride calls a lack of transparency and increasingly unprofessional conduct.

"Myself, and many of my legislative colleagues, have repeatedly tried to communicate with the superintendent and his staff about these important issues," said Rep. Mark McBride, ( R ) House Education Appropriations and Budget Chair. "With the amount of tax dollars being spent by the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), legislative oversight of this spending is crucial. We have tried to work with the Superintendent, like we do with all state agencies but have been met with a lack of transparency and increasingly unprofessional conduct.

“A subpoena is a really big deal,” said Rep. Mickey Dollens, (D) OKC.

The subpoena, filed by Representative Mark McBride, demands Walters turn over the following items:

1. Details on a teacher recruitment program that Walters discussed during a media interview.
2. Details of failing schools and what Waters is doing to help those schools get back on track.
3. An update on the Metrics Software $2 million expenditure from SB 36X and how it is, or is not being utilized by OSDE and/ or schools.
4. Details on procedure behind Policy Advisor, Matt Langston’s response to state lawmakers.
5. A copy of applications from 950 teachers Walters said have applied to teach in Oklahoma from out of state.
6. All emails sent to rwalters@everykidcountsok.gov from September 10, 2020, forward, that related to the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability.
7. Copies of all correspondence between OSDE and Chairs Baker and McBride regarding document requests.
8. Any and all emails, texts, or other communications between Walters and Matt Langston regarding the responses to document requests from Chairs McBride and Baker.

Also attached to the subpoena are four letters sent from McBride to Walters, requesting the above items, including the “final request” on December 6th. All four of these letters were signed as “delivered” by an OSDE staff member.

Regardless of multiple attempts to get this information without taking legal action, McBride says he was still left without answers. Now, the subpoena demands answers within 14 days. “Hopefully we find some answers and can get to the bottom of this complete lack of transparency that we've seen from Superintendent Walters,” said Rep. Dollens.

Rep. Dollens says he’s in support of Mcbride's move. Dollens has been calling for the beginning of the Walters impeachment process, along with other state democrats, for months now. “I've never seen anything like the way state superintendent Ryan Walters and his office have disrespected senior members of the state legislature, have completely ignored requests,” said Rep. Dollens.

Walter's advisor Matt Langston said in a statement "Representative McBride has repeatedly lied about Superintendent Walters and the State Department of Education."

“Now we've got Superintendent Walters who is disrespecting his own party members and Matt Langston who's not even an Oklahoman who's calling senior members and republicans "whiny Democrats,” said Rep. Dollens.

During McBride’s most recent push to get this information from OSDE, Langston responded with a letter saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” 

The letter did not contain any of the requested information was written on OSDE letterhead, and slipped under McBride’s door. In a statement to the media later that day, Langston called McBride, who has served as a Republican for years, a “whiny Democrat.”

We talked to McBride last month, after his most recent call for answers. “My job is to see to it that money gets to education and gets to education in the right ways,’ said Rep. McBride. “They need to do the business that people elected you to do.”

The subpoena doesn’t have a clear punishment for Walters if he doesn’t turn over the documents, but according to Rep. Dollens, “If he doesn't show up, that is against the law, that is breaking the law, and according to Speaker McCall, that would be grounds for impeachment,” said Rep. Dollens.

Walters has to turn everything over on January 5, at 3 p.m. to the state capitol.

Full statement from Rep. McBride:

"As the branch of government charged with appropriations and oversight, the Legislature has a responsibility to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being spent properly by the agencies and departments under its purview. Myself, and many of my legislative colleagues, have repeatedly tried to communicate with the superintendent and his staff about these important issues. With the amount of tax dollars being spent by the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), legislative oversight of this spending is crucial. We have tried to work with the Superintendent, like we do with all state agencies, but have been met with a lack of transparency and increasingly unprofessional conduct. As Chairman of the Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee, I am constitutionally bound to ask questions, and statutorily entitled to have them answered, of the leadership of the legislatively appropriated OSDE. As those questions have not been answered, and no voluntary answer is forthcoming, I have exercised my power as Chairman to subpoena the superintendent to produce the records and communications requested by the committee. Where taxpayer money is concerned, we must be diligent. The time for playing political games is over, and the time for answers is at hand. My focus is, and always will be, doing what is best for the children of Oklahoma, and the only way we can do that as a Legislature is to get basic questions answered properly. I look forward to reviewing the subpoenaed documents, and their timely delivery to my office."

Ryan Walters' Senior Advisor Matt Langston issued the following statement regarding the subpoena from Rep. Mark McBride:

"Representative McBride has repeatedly lied about Superintendent Walters and the State Department of Education. He has made up false narratives and has yet to show a serious effort to improve education in Oklahoma. All Oklahomans should question his political and ideological stances. Representative McBride actively works with Democrats and teachers unions to undermine Superintendent Walters' and Oklahomans' conservative policies."

The subpoena comes amid tensions between the state Legislature and the Department of Education. One lawmaker called out an OSDE staffer for what he calls 'childish behavior.'

Republican House Representative Mark McBride says the legislature has struggled to communicate with OSDE on spending, among other issues. However, McBride says the latest communication he received took it too far.

"You know it's been going on for a long time,” McBride said.

But after months of information requests about teacher signing bonuses, OSDE spending, and emails from Walters went unanswered, McBride put his foot down.

"Wednesday, I sent and I said you know we need answers to these questions,” McBride explained. “And that's when somebody from the department of ed slipped this sarcastic little letter under my door."

The letter read ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,’ and it was sent by OSDE Senior Policy Advisor Matt Langston. "I thought it was very unprofessional," McBride said.

We reached out to Matt Langston for an interview but did not receive a response.

Langston did release a statement responding to McBride Friday, calling McBride a 'whiney Democrat' and saying in part '...McBride continues to cry for attention while promoting failed policies, backing woke indoctrination, and promoting porn in schools...'

"Really it's kind of childish. I’m not a Democrat," McBride clarified. He says there's a bigger picture at hand. "It needs to be about the kids," McBride said.

He says transparency and communication between OSDE and the legislature is the only way forward. "They need to do the business that the people elected them to do," McBride said.