Oklahoma House Democrats called on Oklahoma state Speaker of the House Charles McCall (R-Atoka) to create a bipartisan investigation into State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters on Tuesday.
The call alleges that Walters misspent federal funding and failed to report campaign expenses, according to a press release from the Oklahoma House Democratic Caucus. If supported by McCall, the investigation could determine impeachment charges.
“Paired with his toxic rhetoric that is impacting the safety of our schools, we believe it is more than enough to, at the very least, investigate him,” House Minority Leader Rep. Cyndi Munson (D-Oklahoma City) said in the press release.
Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman) said he supported this call for investigation due to these alleged reasons.
“What we did today was not a call for impeachment,” Rosecrants said. “It's a call to dig deeper to see if impeachment is even an option, and to at least get out there in public hearings to see what all is going on at the State Department of Education.”
Rosecrants said records requests and emails sent to the Oklahoma State Department of Education go unanswered regardless of party affiliation, which has been a recent issue with Walters leading the department. Those questions could originally be answered by a legislative liaison in minutes, he added.
“It's a black hole of information,” Rosecrants said.
The call for investigation surfaced amid a series of bomb threats made against multiple Oklahoma public schools following an X, formerly known as Twitter, post by Walters.
On the morning of Aug. 22, Ellen Ochoa Elementary in Tulsa received such a threat.
Later the same day, Walters reposted a video on his account, claiming he was “here to stop” the “woke ideology” as expressed in the video. The satirical video shows a Union Public Schools librarian saying she’s not finished pushing her woke agenda.
On Aug. 27, Union Public Schools received another bomb threat with no schools within the district listed, according to a statement on Facebook.
“The latest threat is made towards every Oklahoma school, airport, university, store, mall, bus station, highway, police station, courthouse, and city halls,” the statement read.
Rosecrants said it is Walter’s actions that have resulted in such threats.
“Therein lies the problem: all the chaos that is coming from the State Department of Education,” Rosecrants said. “It's never been this way.”
Rep. Jared Deck (D-Norman) said some Republican constituents disapprove of Walters, a reason for bipartisan investigation.
“I don’t hope for any particular outcome other than to seek truth and justice. If it is evident that State Superintendent Walters is working in good faith, then so be it,” Deck said. “If the evidence shows misconduct, then the House should consider impeachment.”
This story was edited by Alexia Aston, Taylor Jones and Peggy Dodd. Nikkie Aisha and Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
