Ryan Walters will step down as the superintendent of Oklahoma public schools Oct. 1 to lead a conservative organization founded to oppose teachers’ unions and “the liberal, woke agenda” he claims is polluting American education and values.
“For decades, union bosses have poisoned our schools with politics and propaganda while abandoning parents, students and good teachers,” Walters said in announcing his appointment as CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance.
Under his leadership, the Olympia, Wash.-based group will “take back” the nation’s classrooms, he vowed. “We will arm teachers with the tools, support and freedom they need, without forcing them to give up their values. This is a battle for the future of our kids, and we will not lose.”
Walters has been the most high-profile and polarizing public schools chief in the country since taking office in January 2023. His view of America as a “Christian nation” inspired attempts to place Bibles in classrooms and to install a Bible-based social studies curriculum for elementary school children. His actions generated legal challenges and at least one petition for his impeachment.
Walters has been the most high-profile and polarizing public schools chief in the country.
Days before his resignation, Ryan announced his intention to establish Turning Point USA chapters in each of the state’s 451 public high schools, a plan he conceived following the recent assassination of TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk, a Christian nationalist ally of President Donald Trump.
From Day One in office, Ryan’s actions earned him an array of critics, including some in his own party.
Genter Drummond
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a fellow Republican, blasted Walters for creating “a stream of never-ending scandal and political drama” that has been “an embarrassment to our state.”
Worse still, reading proficiency and test scores have reached “historic lows” under Walters’ administration, Drummond said.
In August, Walters announced Oklahoma would stop administering statewide math and reading testing during the current school year and instead allow districts to conduct their own assessments.
“It’s time for a state superintendent of public instruction who will actually focus on quality instruction in our public schools,” Drummond said. “Gov. Stitt used to say he would make us Top Ten, but after seven years we are ranked 50th in education. Our families, our students and our teachers deserve so much more.”
Walters also drew fire with a January proposal — since rejected by the Legislature — to collect citizenship data on students, and for accusing LGBTQ groups and the Biden administration of “pushing a false narrative” around the bullying-related suicide of nonbinary student Nex Benedict in February 2024.
“Quit playing politics. @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris have chosen to embrace the lies of the most radical groups in their party. Their party has found a new low of exploiting a child’s death,” Walters said on X a month later.
Not surprisingly, many Oklahomans are not sad to see him go.
Hailey Briggs
“Oklahomans for Equality recognizes the resignation of State Superintendent Ryan Walters as a pivotal moment for our state,” said Hailey Briggs, the organization’s executive director.
“Under his tenure, many of Oklahoma’s most marginalized students, including LGBTQ youth, and the educators who support them faced harmful rhetoric and policies that threatened safe and affirming learning environments,” Briggs said.
Walters’ assault on the separation of church and state drew some of the most heated protests in addition to multiple legal challenges.
In March, a group of families, teachers and religious leaders filed a brief urging the Oklahoma Supreme Court to prevent Walters from installing a Scripture-based curriculum in elementary schools.
The same group sued the state in 2024 to block the superintendent’s plan to spend more than $3 million on Bibles he mandated for use in every public school classroom. The state Supreme Court subsequently issued a temporary block on the purchase of Bibles and on the proposed curriculum.
Mitch Randall
“The resignation of Superintendent Ryan Walters marks the end of one of the most controversial eras in Oklahoma public education,” said Mitch Randall, a Baptist pastor who is CEO of Good Faith Media and a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
“At every turn, Walters attempted to instill Christian nationalism and false information into the classroom. Oklahoma students, educators and school systems are better off today because of his resignation than they were when Walters held the office. Maybe now, Oklahoma can return to the serious business of educating our children without the lunacy Walters brought to the job.”
Walters’ resignation will have no immediate effect on pending litigation which will continue until resolved through the courts or settlement, said Americans United for Separation of Church and State, one of the groups that filed the litigation.
“This is a win for Oklahomans,” Americans United President Rachel Laser said. “They’re better off without Walters. At every turn, Ryan Walters abused the power of his government office as he attempted to impose his personal religious beliefs on Oklahoma school children.”
The Freedom from Religion Foundation called Walters’ departure a “win for the Constitution” following a tenure devoted to subverting the separation of church and state.
On the other hand, the Teacher Freedom Alliance said it is entering “a bold new era of leadership” under Walters, who will fight “the woke liberal union mob” by building “a national movement that is centered on freedom and common sense, not bullying and intimidation.”
The organization was founded in March by the Freedom Foundation, a conservative anti-union think tank.
“We’re a battle tank that’s battering the entrenched power of left-wing government union bosses who represent a permanent lobby for bigger government, higher taxes, and radical social agendas.”
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