Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has weighed in on Governor Kevin Stitt’s state school board moves this week.
Gov. Stitt removed three members of the State Board of Education and nominated Ryan Deatherage, Michael Tinney and Chris VanDenhende to replace them.
Drummond sent a letter to the three nominees named to the board by Stitt, urging them to remain independent from the governor and State Superintendent Ryan Walters, focusing on serving the people of Oklahoma and not any one politician or political agenda.
“While I welcome the Governor’s apparent ‘shake-up’ of the Board, this action is only necessary because of Gov. Stitt’s extremely poor judgment in appointing, promoting and then endorsing Ryan Walters and his anti-public schools agenda.” Drummond said. “As a new board member, you must act independently of Gov. Stitt and Superintendent Walters. The oath of office you take is to the Constitution and Oklahoma law.”
AG Drummond also took aim at Walters in his letter.
“Superintendent Walters also possesses an honesty gap in view of his own expectations for student performance on state-administered tests, having quietly lowered the student performance bar in 2024,” wrote Drummond. “The Superintendent’s watered-down approach further undermines the integrity of Oklahoma’s educational assessments, which the Governor’s previous appointees green-lighted. This approach permitted students to score lower while still being considered proficient.”
More on Drummond’s letter here
Supt. Walters responded to Drummond with the following:
“Liberal Gentner Drummond needs to stop pretending to be Governor and start doing his job. The Democrat Hofmeister era of failing schools and woke nonsense is OVER. Teachers’ unions have a new ally in Drummond to support their corruption and undermining of our schools. Drummond is too busy playing politics and trying to please the swamp while we’re delivering real results for parents and kids. Weak leadership won’t stop us—we’re making Oklahoma schools GREAT again!” -Supt. Ryan Walters.