Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters has proven to be a clear and present danger to the health and welfare of Oklahoma’s public schools. Not only has he repeatedly demonstrated gross incompetence in his official capacity, his administration regularly and unabashedly promotes policies and rhetoric that would equate to willful neglect of duty, and he is under intense scrutiny for multiple violations of federal and state law. Incompetence, willful neglect of duty, and criminal activity are impeachable offenses in the Oklahoma Constitution.

TOP TEN REASONS WHY the Oklahoma Legislature needs to begin impeachment proceedings immediately:

1. FEDERAL FUNDING IN PERIL (incompetence and willful neglect of duty) - Walters has elected to forgo applying for federal grants that provide crucial funding for public school services which support children. Oklahoma receives nearly $1 BILLION dollars in federal funding. Federal dollars support students in many ways. Some of these ways include mental health services, school safety, free and reduced lunch programs, special education, Indian Education, VoAg programs, and reading/math programs for students living in poverty. Oklahomans have already paid for these services with federal taxes, and Walters is choosing to give away our hard-earned tax dollars to other states like California. If federal education dollars are rejected by Walters, the State of Oklahoma would have to come up with state funds to be able to continue to fund these services for children. Simply put, the money is not there. Our state government cannot afford to backfill these rejected dollars so that these services are not cut. Since Walters has taken office, it is estimated Oklahoma’s children may already be facing a loss of up to $272 million from their classroom services. Because of their deep concern surrounding Walters’ willful neglect of duty to provide these resources to children, the Oklahoma legislature added language to the 2023 budget bill that would prohibit him from refusing to pursue federal grants without the approval of the House and Senate. This language is now law. Moving forward, If Walters continues to shirk his duties in obtaining school funding, he will be in violation of Oklahoma law. However, significant damage may have already been done, and schools may face beginning the 2023-24 school year without these crucial programs.

2. LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOR TEACHERS/COACHES WHO ARE CHILD PREDATORS (willful neglect of duty) - There are multiple active situations in the state right now where child predators have been accused of sexual misconduct with children. To date, Walters’ OSDE has not removed the teachers from the classroom, suspended their teaching certificates, or sent in Title IX investigators. A TITLE IX investigation is the process required by law to carefully examine an allegation or complaint of sexual harassment or sexual violence against a student. The OSDE is supposed to be conducting these internal investigations when situations of child abuse occur. There are multiple incidents where accused child abusers are being allowed to remain in a coaching role, with no action being taken by OSDE to remove them from further access to children while their cases play out in the courts. This puts children at risk for further abuse and erodes trust that Ryan Walters will hold public school employees accountable for predatory behavior. Past action by the OSDE under previous leaderships sent letters to Oolagah (2020) and Ninnekah (2021) immediately notifying them of a Title IV investigation. Since Walters has taken charge of the OSDE, there have been no Title IX teams or investigators sent to Oklahoma school districts to investigate active matters of abuse. To date, nothing has been done in pending abuse allegations in Kingfisher, Wewoka, or Ringling. ***UPDATE (8/28) A new lawsuit to the Oklahoma Supreme Court has been filed, naming Ryan Walters as a defendant. It is what is called a “writ of mandamus” case - a legal tool used to force someone in a position of authority to carry out their legal obligations or duties. It's often used to address situations where an official or entity is not taking action that the law requires them to take. The lawsuit alleges Walters knew about the decades long severe abuse of students at the hands of a Kingfisher football coach and although mandated by law to take action, he has done nothing. The suit has been accepted by the Oklahoma Supreme Court and is scheduled to begin oral presentation on September 26th. We urge all Oklahomans to read the gut wrenching petitioners brief here. RYAN WALTERS IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE VILLIFICATION OF BOOKS THAN PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM ABUSE.

3. GROSS MISMANAGEMENT OF FUNDS (incompetence, willful neglect of duty, and possible state and federal criminal charges) - Walters is under federal and state investigation for mismanagement of taxpayer dollars while serving as Secretary of Education. A U.S. Department of Education review of federal Covid Relief programs found that Walters implemented few safeguards to prevent fraud or abuse. The state placed no limits on what items families could purchase from vendors. An investigative report from Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier discovered that with few guardrails, some families used Oklahoma’s share of federal Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Funds (GEER) to buy Christmas trees, gaming consoles, electric fireplaces and outdoor grills.

   On June 27th, 2023, Oklahoma State Auditor & Inspector (SAI) Cindy Byrd released the Federal Single Audit of Oklahoma’s 2021 federal pandemic funds. This scathing audit report reveals the extreme gross incompetence and willful neglect of duty of Ryan Walters. The dismal audit findings of State Auditor Byrd prompted Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond to subsequently request a formal Investigative Audit of the Oklahoma State Department of Education, stating “a number of concerning items from the audit will require further investigation. I refuse to tolerate what amounts to a pervasive culture of waste, mismanagement and apparent fraud.” Families 4 Liberty has compiled a detailed summary of the audit report findings as they relate to Walters. Please visit this link to read the audit report summary and to access all supporting documents, including the full audit report from the State of Oklahoma.

   More recently, In spring of 2023, the former OSDE Executive Director of School Success in the Federal Programs Division reported to the Oklahoma Attorney General that Walters ignored his warning that a new signing bonus program for teachers fell short of state and federal requirements. Walters’ blatant disregard of this warning puts Oklahoma taxpayers at risk of having to pay an $18 million penalty for his incompetence in this matter. Following this report, the SDE employee was terminated, violating whistleblower laws. At a recent legislative hearing, lawmakers questioned whether Walters had actual approval from the federal government to use federal dollars to fund his new teacher signing bonus program. Without approval, this program is in potential violation of federal requirements. Lawmakers asked for Walters to submit documented proof that the signing bonus program could actually be funded with federal funds for special education. Walters has not provided all information requested by the legislature on May 1st.

4. WHISTLEBLOWER LAWSUITS (willful neglect of duty and pending litigation on violation of state and federal whistleblower laws) - Three federal lawsuits have been filed against State Superintendent Ryan Walters and his Chief Policy Advisor, Matt Langston for wrongful termination. Walters’ chief policy advisor, Matt Langston, sent out an email on May 25, threatening employees with termination if they were found to have leaked information to the press. Langston later posted on Twitter the email had been a ruse — different versions were sent to employees to track who leaked them. Another employee was fired for speaking about adolescent mental health during the public comment section of an Edmond Public Schools school board meeting, which took place in the wake of a student suicide in the district in which her children attend. A third whistleblower claimed Walters’ administration failed to follow through on federal grant contracts worth millions of dollars, and that he outright lied to lawmakers about the status of grants. A 4th whistleblower issued a public claim Superintendent Ryan Walters’ administration failed to follow through on federal grant contracts worth millions of dollars, and that Walters outright lied to lawmakers about the status of grants. Government whistleblowers are protected from employer retaliation by state and federal law. The status of the resulting lawsuits are ongoing.

5. LIED TO OKLAHOMA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE (incompetence and willful neglect of duty) - Walters addressed a packed room of lawmakers for two and half hours about his policy proposals and rhetoric. After initially refusing invitations to speak to the House Education Appropriations and Budget committee, Walters agreed to the May 1st hearing where lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed Walters on an array of topics. These included the status of federal grant applications, the mass exodus from his agency, a lack of responsiveness from his department, and continued inflammatory rhetoric. During questioning on federal grant status, Walters told lawmakers the agency, “hasn’t missed a single deadline for any grant or any program.” After this hearing, a former Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) employee came forward with claims that Superintendent Walters lied to lawmakers about the status of these federal grants. According to reporting from The Tulsa World, the former director of grant development at the OSDE notified the legislature that the department hasn’t applied for a single grant and is failing continuing obligations for grants already in the works.

6. WILLFUL ACTIONS TO BYPASS OKLAHOMA LAW (willful neglect of duty and violation of Oklahoma law) - Under the direction of Walters and against the preliminary advice of Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the Oklahoma State Board of Education voted unanimously to pass a set of “rules” surrounding library media and counseling services that ran contradictory to the proper procedural process for rule making. Oklahoma law does not give the State Board of Education (SBE) the ability to make administrative rules without proper direction from the state Legislature, Attorney General Gentner Drummond ruled in a formal opinion. “It is well settled that an agency may only exercise the powers expressly given by statute,” the opinion states. “An agency cannot expand those powers by its own authority.” Drummond commented on the opinion, saying the content of the rules are irrelevant to the issue of whether proper authority exists to issue them. “Whether I agree or disagree with any particular rule in question is irrelevant if the Board does not have the proper authority to issue those rules,” he said. “The Legislature is vested with policymaking authority. I will not allow any state agency, board or commission to usurp the Legislature’s rightful role, even if they have the best of intentions.”

7. DISSEMINATION OF SEXUAL CONTENT (incompetence and possible violation of Oklahoma law) - Several Oklahoma lawmakers say state Superintendent Ryan Walters sent pornographic content to their state email accounts. The emails were sent amid the growing call from lawmakers for Walters to prove that there's porn in Oklahoma schools. Walters emailed explicit material he described as pornographic to all 149 members of the Legislature this week, apparently in an attempt to convince them that Oklahoma’s public schools are rife with it. It is against the law for any state employee, including elected officials, to send sexually explicit material while conducting state business either electronically or via mail or delivery. Walters violated this state law. Additionally, at the May State Board of Ed meeting, Walters debuted an attack ad on teachers which contained, by his own definition, sexually explicit material. Some of the images were uncensored. There were multiple minor children in attendance at this meeting where Walters proactively shared explicit material without giving any type of warning to the parents in the room, removing their option for the minor children to leave the room before being exposed to the images. In doing so, Walters knowingly violated multiple obscenity laws in the presence of minor children.

8. CREATING A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT (incompetence and willful neglect of duty) - At the May State Board of Ed meeting, Walters debuted an attack ad on Oklahoma’s teachers. This ad labels teachers as pedophiles and radicals and did not contain ANY footage from actual Oklahoma teachers or teacher organizations. At a time when teachers are leaving Oklahoma classrooms, many citing Walters’ incendiary rhetoric, the video set off a firestorm of calls from the public for Walters’ impeachment, including one call for removal by a staff opinion writer from The Oklahoman, our state’s most conservative newspaper. Teachers and public school supporters called his video launch an attack on teachers that is reckless, untrue, and noted that at this rate, his behavior is going to get someone physically hurt. At an earlier May hearing at the Capitol, Walters called teachers “terrorists”, prompting additional anger, and outrage. Additionally, his internal lawsuits surrounding the firing of whistleblowers has set off another firestorm of reports that there are very few qualified individuals left to run the State Department of Education. Ryan Walters has created an environment within his own agency, and outside the doors of his agency, where State Education employees feel threatened.

9. PUBLICLY SUPPORTS AND ENCOURAGES VIOLATION OF OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTION AND STATUTES (willful neglect of duty) - In the April Statewide Virtual Charter Board meeting, Walters publicly stated he supports the removal of church and state and encouraged board members to knowingly violate the Oklahoma Constitution, the Oklahoma Charter School Act, and SB516 by voting to approve the nations first-ever publicly funded religious charter school. His promotion to violate Oklahoma law was once again met with a formal opinion from Attorney General Drummond that doing so would violate state and federal law.

10. WALTERS’ “PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS” VIOLATE 2 OKLAHOMA STATE STATUTES (willful neglect of duty, violation of Oklahoma law) - Walters released two official promotional videos from the OSDE, one targeting teachers and another focused on isolating vulnerable students. Both “PSA” videos were paid for by taxpayers. Both videos carry realistic potential to incite violence against teachers, children, or both. Both videos violate the following Oklahoma Statutes:

    Title 70. Schools - §70-24-100.3. School Safety and Bullying Prevention Act - A. As used in the School Safety and Bullying Prevention Act: "Bullying" means any pattern of harassment, intimidation, threatening behavior, physical acts, verbal or electronic communication directed toward a student or group of students that results in or is reasonably perceived as being done with the intent to cause negative educational or physical results for the targeted individual or group and is communicated in such a way as to disrupt or interfere with the school's educational mission or the education of any student.

    Title 21. Crimes and Punishments - §21-1172. Obscene, threatening or harassing telecommunication or other electronic communications - Penalty - A. It shall be unlawful for a person who, by means of a telecommunication or other electronic communication device, willfully either: makes a telecommunication or other electronic communication with intent to terrify, intimidate or harass, or threaten to inflict injury or physical harm to any person or property of that person. As used in this section, “telecommunication” and “electronic communication” mean any type of telephonic, electronic or radio communications, or transmission of signs, signals, data, writings, images and sounds or intelligence of any nature by telephone, including cellular telephones, wire, cable, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photo-optical system or the creation, display, management, storage, processing, transmission or distribution of images, text, voice, video or data by wire, cable or wireless means, including the Internet. Any person who is convicted of a second offense under this section shall be guilty of a felony.