Oklahoma parents are sending their kids back to school this month with a gut‑punch reality: Our state just ranked 50th in the nation for public education. (Only New Mexico ranked worse; the list included the District of Columbia.) And steering this sinking ship is the ultra-conservative MAGA star state superintendent, Ryan Walters, who’s been promoting himself and getting mired in scandals as 700,000 public school students in Oklahoma pay the price for his failures.
Steering this sinking ship is the ultra-conservative MAGA star state superintendent, Ryan Walters.
The latest Walters scandal? The Oklahoman reported that two state Board of Education members told the newspaper that they saw images of naked women on Walters’ office television during an executive session of the board. The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, a spokesperson for that office said.
Though these board members were appointed by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, Walters called their claims “politically motivated attacks.” He said, “These are desperate lies from a broken establishment terrified of real change.” At a subsequent news conference, he tried to divert attention onto Stitt: “The governor needs to answer the questions,” he said. “Did he tell these board members to come in here and do this? Did you coordinate with them afterwards to set all this up after the fact when you couldn’t disrupt the meeting?” He also cast aspersions on teachers’ unions and the press.
In March 2023, Walters ignored an Oklahoma law prohibiting the distribution of sexually explicit material through government email, and deliberately emailed pornographic images to state legislators that he said was meant to expose material available in the schools. However, despite requests from lawmakers that he do so, Walters never provided evidence linking the images to schools in Oklahoma.
The public official who recorded himself inside his car screaming that pornography is available in our schools is now being accused of playing images of naked women in his government office in sight of other people.
Meanwhile, the scoreboard doesn’t lie: Under Walters, Oklahoma slid from 47th to 50th in national education rankings. Average teacher pay lags some neighboring states. Emergency certifications are being rubber‑stamped at record levels just to keep classrooms staffed.
And what’s Walters’ solution? He tried unsuccessfully to get Oklahoma lawmakers to appropriate $3 million in tax dollars to fund “Trump Bibles” for every classroom. He tried to force school districts to show students a video of Walters with his head bowed at his desk in his government office praying for Donald Trump. He’s working with PragerU to develop an “America First” certification test, complete with Bible‑based history questions, to keep out “woke” teachers. He even sneaked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election into the state’s social studies standards. Walters isn’t just incompetent. He’s following a deliberate far‑right playbook. Walters isn’t just incompetent. He’s following a deliberate far‑right playbook: Create chaos, invent enemies, demoralize teachers and convince the public that public schools can’t work. Then swoop in with the “solution.” Privatize everything, funnel tax dollars to political allies and leave parents scrambling while kids pay the price. I saw it coming. In 2023, I was the first lawmaker to publicly call for Walters to be impeached. The pattern was already clear. He has more self-serving ambition than competence and more loyalty to Trump than to Oklahoma’s students. Every scandal since has been more confirmation. Yes, the ongoing investigation into the accusation that Walters was playing pornography in his office needs to play out. But Oklahomans can already see what’s right in front of us. Walters has dragged our education system to the bottom while blaming everyone else, including the governor who helped put him in the position, instead of taking responsibility himself. He’s turned Oklahoma into a national punchline at the expense of our kids’ futures.
Rep. Mickey Dollens
Mickey Dollens, now in his fourth term in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, also serves as the Minority Whip for the House Democratic Caucus. He has a wide range of experience as a public school teacher, collegiate football player, Team USA bobsledder, oilfield roughneck, and nonprofit leader. He lives in Oklahoma City. 
