Who is Ryan Walters? What to know about Oklahoma's controversial top educator
Oklahoma's top educator vigorously criticized "the left" in a heated appearance on CNN Monday, in which he defended his mandate for schools to play a video that shows him praying for President-elect Donald Trump.
"The left has driven the Bible out of schools, driven prayer out of schools, and everything in education has gotten worse since," Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters told CNN anchor Pam Brown.
The video was part of a flurry of recent moves by Walters as he works to elevate his national profile. Trump is quickly filling out his incoming Cabinet, and Walters’ name has been mentioned by some news outlets as a potential pick for education secretary or adviser.
Who is Ryan Walters?
Ryan Walters is the state Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma.
A 2016 teacher of the year finalist, Walters taught high school history for eight years, according to his government biography.
In Sept. 2020, he was appointed as Secretary of Public Education in Oklahoma. He was elected to his current position in 2022, according to Ballotpedia, and his term ends in January 2027.
Walters has long supported Trump, echoing several of his stances on education.
Why is Ryan Walters controversial?
Walters, like Trump, has called for the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education. In recent months, he has made a number of moves that drew national attention.
In June, Walter mandated school districts to include the Bible “as an instructional support into the curriculum" for grades 5 through 12, citing its importance as a historical document. The mandate is being challenged in court.
The Bible mandate further made headlines when a call for Bible vendors was written in such a way that very few versions of the Bible — namely one endorsed by former President Donald Trump — appeared to meet all the standards specified. At the urging of officials from the state Office of Management and Enterprise Services, minor changes were made to the RFP.
In the video discussed recently on CNN, Walters said he would create a new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism and bowed his head in prayer. He sent an email requiring districts to show the video to all enrolled students and distribute it to parents as well. Several school districts said they would not show the video and the Oklahoma attorney general sided with the districts.
Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the state attorney general's office, told this to the the Oklahoman, part of the Paste BN Network: "Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights.”
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at Paste BN. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com, and follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley.