Ryan Walters should be ashamed.
For two years, Walters served as Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. That job includes playing a major role in developing education policy, addressing issues in the state’s common education system, and providing resources for the thousands of students and teachers in our state.
Instead of doing that, Walters spent his time calling teachers’ unions terrorist organizations, claiming that schools were distributing pornography, and attempting to spend millions of dollars on Trump-endorsed Bibles for public schools.
All of this while our state’s reading scores were crashing.
Now, with session less than a month away, legislative leaders are scrambling to fix the problems cause by the state’s former superintendent.
House Appropriations Chair Trey Caldwell, a commonsense Republican who understands the importance of education, said Speaker Kyle Hilbert would be carrying legislation this session to address our state’s third grade literacy rates.
“We know how vital and important education is for our state,” Caldwell said during an interview with the Lawton Constitution Unlike Walters, Caldwell is focused. He understands.
And now, come February the Oklahoma Legislature will spend a great deal of time working to fix the problems caused by Walters. Of course, lawmakers do have help. New Superintendent Lindel Fields has already demonstrated a thoughtful and focused effort to improve the system.
Fields, who was named to his post by Gov. Kevin Stitt, came from the CareerTech system. Fields has experience and understanding.
And, like many lawmakers, he’s willing to roll up his sleeves and fix the problems cause by the former superintendent.
For this, Oklahomans should be thankful.
Oklahoma’s entire education system - from higher education down to kindergarten - needs support, funding, and resources. Our professors and teachers must know their work is valued and our students must know that education is vital for both their future and the future of this state.
Oklahoma’s education system shouldn’t be about criticizing teachers’ unions or making false claims about public schools. Higher education, CareerTech, and common education all have the same focus: the student.
Thankfully, some state lawmakers understand that. Ryan Walters sure didn’t.
M. Scott Carter is an award-winning political and investigative reporter with more than 40years’ experience covering federal and state government and politics in Oklahoma. He can be reached at scott. carter@swoknews. com.