OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Given the steps Ryan Walters has taken to shield himself from public scrutiny, Oklahomans from all walks of life gathered in Tulsa and Oklahoma City on Tuesday evening at a pair of events to register their anger and frustration with his failed leadership as the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, allowing the state’s education system to stagnate and fostering a climate hostile to its LGBTQ+ students.

These events arrived ahead of tomorrow’s monthly meeting of the state Board of Education, which is held during the workday, and traditionally potential speakers must line up a day in advance to secure one of only 10 slots for public comments. However, less than 24 hours before tomorrow’s meeting the Department announced that the public comment will be handled “at random”, allowing Ryan Walters to essentially hand select the people allowed to speak. This lack of transparency is inexcusable for an ostensibly public meeting of the bureaucratic body responsible for the wellbeing and education of Oklahoma’s 700,000 public school students.

Despite these restrictions, Oklahomans will once again travel to the board meeting tomorrow to make their voices heard and demand that the legislature hold him accountable for failing Oklahoma students and schools.

At Tuesday night’s event in Tulsa, a community that has been tremendously impacted by Ryan Walters’ power grabs, community members gathered for the People’s Hearing, an event where members of the Board of Education were invited to hear from a cross-section of individuals about their concerns with the state of Oklahoma’s poor education system and its utter failure to protect LGBTQ+ students. None of the members of the Board of Education who were invited took the time to attend.

At the same time, in Oklahoma City, dozens of community members converged to write postcards to their lawmakers calling out the failed leadership of Ryan Walters and asking them to use their oversight authority to rein in his malicious and harmful policy proposals that only serve to further his own political aspirations at the expense of students.

These public gatherings came just hours after The Frontier dropped a major expose that details how a fumbled and neglected grant application process at the Oklahoma State Department of Education led to a lapse in federal funding for a program that provides crisis assistance to school districts dealing with emergency situations. This is just the latest reporting on how Walters’ mismanagement and incompetence has cost Oklahoma schools millions of dollars in federal grants, all while the state remains ranked 49th in the nation in K-12 education.

Community members and advocates will once again travel across to the state to gather Thursday at the state Board of Education meeting in Oklahoma City, despite the extreme restrictions on access to the meeting, as they have every month since news of the tragic death of nonbinary student Nex Benedict emerged, exposing to the nation the failure of Walters’ leadership and shining a new light on a state bureaucracy that is crumbling under his guidance. They will also deliver their postcards to Oklahoma legislators at the state capitol, demanding they take action to hold Walters to account for his failures.

WHAT: Oklahoma State Board of Education monthly meeting

WHO: Human Rights Campaign, Freedom Oklahoma, Defense of Democracy, Oklahoma parents, educators, and clergy

WHERE: Oliver Hodge Education Building, Room 1-20
Oklahoma State Capitol
2500 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City

WHEN: Thursday, May 23, 2024, community members and advocates arrive by 8:30 AM CDT, meeting begins at 9:30 AM CDT

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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