In his opening remarks, Walters says “We will reform all of our education system. … There will be school choice.”
OKLAHOMA CITY — Newly elected State Superintendent Ryan Walters received approval Thursday for a revised fiscal year 2024 budget request with $150 million for teacher incentive pay and $100 million for early-grade reading instruction.
It was Walters’ first Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting since he was sworn into office.
He faced a barrage of bipartisan questions and criticism earlier this week when he appeared before a State House committee without details of his new budget request.
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His new budget proposal for $3.51 billion is $59.6 million less than the $3.57 billion requested under former State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister but represents a $330 million total increase compared to FY23 funding levels. His idea for incentive pay based on a teacher’s “teacher and leader effectiveness,” or TLE, rating and professional learning hours completed replaces a $309.6 million request under the previous administration for across-the-board teacher pay raises.
Oklahoma House members Sherrie Conley, R-Newcastle, Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, and Mark McBride, R-Moore, attended to hear Walters’ budget pitch to his fellow board members, which was ultimately approved 6-0.
Three new gubernatorial appointees, Donald Burdick, Suzanne Reynolds and Kendra Wesson, were sworn in at the start of Thursday’s meeting, but a fourth new appointee, Marla Hill, did not attend.
Walters is expected to present the new board-approved request to members of the state Legislature on Tuesday.
“I am very encouraged by the focus he is going to put on reading. As an educator myself, that is the basis of all of our understanding,” Conley said after the meeting.
She also prefers Walters’ incentive pay proposal to pay raises for all teachers.
“Coming from an administrator’s point of view, I have seen teachers work really, really hard and deserve so much more than they get, and then I have seen some who just do the minimum,” she said.
Walters repeated his campaign promises to advocate at the Capitol for “the most expansive school choice program in the country” and to eliminate “indoctrination,” critical race theory, the use of restrooms that don’t correspond with sex assigned at birth, pornographic books, and vendors focused on diversity, equity and inclusion from all of the state’s public schools.
“I’m very excited about this first board meeting and the opportunities to tackle so many issues and challenges that are facing education in Oklahoma,” Walters said at the outset.
He said ensuring that pay for the best public school teachers matches their performance and adding additional resources and strategies to improve literacy among students in kindergarten through third grade are critical needs.
But he noted: “There is a loud and vocal crowd — a minority for sure — that say that all that is needed to fix the problems in education is to toss more money and leave everything alone. This is not the direction we are going.”
Lastly, Walters joined four other members in voting to terminate the state board’s sponsorship of an Oklahoma City charter school, Sovereign Community School, effective June 30, after years of school finance problems and abysmal student test scores.
Burdick, of Tulsa, cast the lone no vote after expressing a desire to give new leaders of the school another 30 days.<&rule>
‘Are we part of a left wing Biden agenda by pushing indoctrination’: State Superintendent Ryan Walters sounds off on higher education
‘Are we part of a left wing Biden agenda by pushing indoctrination’ State Superintendent Ryan Walters sounds off on higher education.
