A runoff race heavy with ideological debates will decide the Republican nominee, and likely general election favorite, for Oklahoma’s top education office.
Ryan Walters, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s education secretary, led the primary field for state schools superintendent on June 28 with 41% of the vote. April Grace, superintendent of Shawnee Public Schools, advanced with 31%.
Tuesday’s runoff victor will decide which GOP candidate will face Democrat Jena Nelson in the Nov. 8 general election.
Walters has become an increasingly polarizing figure in state politics with messaging against claimed “woke ideology” and “sexual indoctrination” of students. He has been a vocal supporter of expanding school choice options and dedicating taxpayer funds to private-school tuition.
“Funding is not our biggest issue in education,” Walters said. “Our biggest issue is getting left-wing indoctrination out of the classroom, empowering parents to have more school choice, and ensuring that the best and the brightest teachers are rewarded and empowered to be successful.”
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Many educators, frustrated with indoctrination rhetoric, have coalesced behind Grace, a longtime teacher, coach and school administrator. Last month’s Oklahoma State Board of Education vote to downgrade the accreditation of Tulsa Public Schools and Mustang Public Schools over violations of House Bill 1775, which bans certain race and gender topics from classrooms, further invigorated a base of public-school supporters.
Grace said, if elected, she would focus on student academic recovery from the pandemic, shifting emphasis from end-of-year state tests to gradual growth throughout the school year, and restoring Oklahoma’s teacher workforce.
“That’s what I see in classrooms is teachers doing the best they can to move students forward academically,” Grace said. “There’s no one out there that wants to indoctrinate kids, and that’s certainly not the main objective of educators.”
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A bevy of district superintendents and teachers donated to her campaign, according to state Ethics Commission records.
Many of Walters’ campaign contributions came from Oklahoma’s business community, records show. Former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made two $2,900 donations to him this summer.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars poured into the race from dark-money groups in recent weeks. Conservative-leaning Americans for Prosperity put tens of thousands of dollars toward mailers, canvassing and advertisements favoring Walters, while Parents and Students First Oklahoma spent $260,000 on TV air time Wednesday supporting him, according to state ethics reports.
A group that in the past supported teacher pay raises — Oklahoma’s Children, Our Future — spent $250,000 Thursday on TV and radio advertisements opposing Walters. Parents in Action LLC spent $84,000 on Wednesday for direct mail against Walters and in favor of Grace.
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Despite supporting the right for parents to choose between multiple educational options, Grace was less enthusiastic about tapping extra taxpayer funds to send more children to private schools. She said existing voucher programs, such as the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship tax credit and the Lindsey Nicole Henry scholarship program, are sufficient.
A bill that promised $128.5 million to children’s private-school costs failed in the Republican-led state Legislature this year. Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, author of Senate Bill 1647, indicated lawmakers might be more amenable to the legislation next year if Gov. Kevin Stitt is reelected this November.
Walters and Stitt advocated for the bill as an opportunity for parents to customize their children’s education. Over the course of her campaign, Grace has said she opposed it because it would do little to ensure private schools properly spend taxpayer dollars — funds she said would be better spent helping public schools with academic recovery.
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A years-long teacher shortage reached new extremes this year, as Oklahoma set an all-time high in July for emergency teaching certifications issued in a single month.
It could take years to recover from the shortage, Grace said, but the state could start by offering substantial pay raises to teachers for every fifth year working in public schools.
For early career educators, the state should ensure college students are paid for student teaching and develop a Teach for Oklahoma program to recruit prospective educators.
“We’ve also got to restore respect to the profession,” Grace said. “We can’t be out constantly making many of these statements and politicizing education in the way that it’s been.”
Walters pushed for legislation that passed this year allocating state lottery proceeds to cover half of a pay raise for teachers who earn certain credentials and mentor other educators.
If Oklahoma rejects left-wing ideology in schools, he said, more people will want to work in education.
“When you’re telling students that because of the color of their skin they’re inferior or superior to another race, when you get into concepts that tell students they should be ashamed of their whiteness, all of that is ideology,” Walters said. “When you are talking about sexuality and sex acts with grade-school students, it is grossly inappropriate, No. 1, and No. 2, it’s indoctrination.
“The more that we hold the administrators accountable who are pushing that on teachers, the more you’re going to have teachers that want to get in the profession.”
Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.