NBC News - Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters announced Wednesday that he would step down from his role overseeing the state's schools to serve as the head of the conservative group Teacher Freedom Alliance, saying, "We're going to destroy the teachers unions."
The announcement from Walters, a conservative Republican who pushed to incorporate teaching about the Bible into public school classrooms, caps off a contentious tenure marked by a willingness to embrace culture war issues.
"We have seen the teachers unions use money and power to corrupt our schools, to undermine our schools," Walters said on the show "Fox News @ Night" on Wednesday. "We are one of the biggest grassroots organizations in the country. We will build an army of teachers to defeat the teachers union once and for all."...
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican, slammed Walters in a statement after the announcement, saying in a post to X that Walters' appointment as superintendent led to "a stream of never-ending scandal and political drama" and calling him "an embarrassment to our state."
"It’s time for a State Superintendent of Public Instruction who will actually focus on quality instruction in our public schools," Drummond said.
As the state's top education official, Walters generated controversy for ordering schools to include the Bible in the curriculum and pushing to require that families prove their U.S. citizenship in order to enroll their children in public schools.
Just days ago, he announced a partnership with Turning Point USA, vowing that high schools in the state would have chapters of the conservative group co-founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated earlier this month. Walters said in his announcement video on X that "radical leftists with the teachers union dominate classrooms and push woke indoctrination on our kids." ...
Walters has said he wanted to “put God back in schools” and called the separation of church and state a “myth.”
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