Ryan Walters resigns as Oklahoma’s top public schools official to lead conservative educators’ group

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (AP) — Republican Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s top public schools official who lauded President Donald Trump, pledged to put a Turning Point USA chapter in every high school to honor Charlie Kirk and end what he called “wokeness” in public schools, is resigning to lead a conservative educators’ group.

Walters, 40, said Wednesday night on Fox News that he is stepping down as state superintendent of public instruction to become the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit that says it assists educators “in their mission to develop free, moral, and upright American citizens.”

“We’re going to destroy the teachers unions,” Walters said on Fox. “We have seen the teachers unions use money and power to corrupt our schools, to undermine our schools.”

Walters has leaned into culture-war politics and sought to infuse religion into classroom instruction, including a mandate that public schoolteachers incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for children in grades 5 though 12.

He has also tried to require social studies teachers to promote conspiracies about the 2020 election, track the immigration status of children in schools and require applicants for teacher jobs coming from California and New York to pass an exam designed to safeguard what he described as “radical leftist ideology.” Many of his efforts have led to lawsuits against him and the agency, even as Oklahoma’s national ranking in several education metrics has continued to decline.

Just Tuesday, Walters announced that Oklahoma high schools will have Turning Point USA chapters. He said parents, teachers and students “want their young people to be engaged in a process that understands free speech, open engagement, dialogue about American greatness, a dialogue around American values.”

Kirk founded the organization to mobilize young, Christian conservatives. It has seen a massive surge in interest and support since the activist’s assassination on Sept. 10.

Walters, a former teacher, was elected to the superintendent’s job. He had served as Oklahoma Secretary of Education from September 2020 to April 2023. He was appointed to that position by Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Ever since then, “we have witnessed a stream of never-ending scandal and political drama,” Oklahoma Attorney General Genter Drummond said in a statement.

“It’s time for a State Superintendent of Public Instruction who will actually focus on quality instruction in our public schools,” Drummond, a Republican and candidate for governor in 2026, said.