Office: Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction (January 2023 – September 30, 2025) Severity: P2

Basis for Inclusion

Subject classification: Public Official — elected statewide officeholder.

Anchor criterion: Walters held elected public office as Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction from January 2023 until his resignation on September 30, 2025. As an elected official exercising government authority over public education policy, his official conduct is a matter of public accountability.

Speech characterization: Walters’ public statements, media appearances, and political commentary are protected speech. This profile documents his official actions, policy decisions, and use of public resources — not his political opinions or religious beliefs.

Bio and Background

Ryan Walters was born in 1988 and grew up in Oklahoma. He served as a public school history teacher and was named the 2021–2022 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year finalist before entering politics. In 2020, Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Walters as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Education. He won the Republican primary and general election for Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022 and took office in January 2023.

Source: Wikipedia, “Ryan Walters (American politician).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Walters_(American_politician))

Role and Function

As Superintendent of Public Instruction, Walters oversaw the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), which serves approximately 700,000 public school students across the state. The position is an independently elected statewide office with authority over curriculum standards, teacher licensing, school funding distribution, and education policy implementation.

Documented Actions

Bible Mandate and Taxpayer-Funded Bible Purchases

In June 2024, Walters issued a unilateral mandate requiring all Oklahoma public schools to “incorporate the Bible, which includes the Ten Commandments” into classroom instruction for grades 5–12. He threatened teachers and administrators with job loss for noncompliance.

Source: Americans United for Separation of Church and State, “Oklahoma Bible Mandate violates church-state separation.” https://www.au.org/oklahoma-bible-lawsuit/

In September 2024, the OSDE posted a Request for Proposal to spend $3 million in state funds to purchase 55,000 King James Version Bibles. The RFP specifications reportedly matched a particular Bible edition endorsed by Donald Trump, which included the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Pledge of Allegiance, and Bill of Rights bound together with the scriptural text.

Source: Enterprise News, “Ryan Walters tried second time to buy Trump Bibles for Oklahoma schools,” March 5, 2025. https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/news/courts/2025/03/05/ryan-walters-oklahoma-bible-mandate-legal-filings-trump-bibles/81498600007/

A coalition of 32 Oklahoma parents, teachers, and clergy filed suit (Walke v. Walters) in the Oklahoma Supreme Court in October 2024, arguing the mandate violated the Oklahoma Constitution’s religious freedom protections and the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act. The Oklahoma Senate subsequently blocked the $3 million Bible purchase from the education budget. After Walters resigned, his successor Lindel Fields rescinded the mandate and cancelled the Bible purchase requests, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the case as moot in November 2025.

Source: The Oklahoman, “Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit over Ryan Walters’ Bible mandate,” November 24, 2025. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2025/11/24/supreme-court-dismisses-lawsuit-over-ryan-walters-bible-mandate/87457956007/

Source: ACLU of Oklahoma, “Clergy, families urge Oklahoma Supreme Court to stop yet another attempt,” 2025. https://www.acluok.org/press-releases/clergy-families-urge-oklahoma-supreme-court-stop-yet-another-attempt-superintendent/

Appointment of Chaya Raichik to Library Advisory Board

In January 2024, Walters appointed Chaya Raichik, creator of the Libs of TikTok social media account, to the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee. Raichik is a former Brooklyn real estate agent with no educational background who does not reside in Oklahoma. An NBC News investigation had previously documented at least 33 instances of bomb threats or violent intimidation targeting institutions featured in Libs of TikTok posts, including Oklahoma’s Union Public Schools, which received bomb threats for six consecutive days in August 2023 following a Libs of TikTok post about an elementary school librarian.

Source: USA Today, “Oklahoma superintendent appoints Libs of TikTok creator to state library committee,” January 23, 2024. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/23/chaya-raichik-libs-of-tiktok-oklahoma-public-education/72324642007/

Source: NBC News, “After Libs of TikTok posted, at least 21 bomb threats followed,” February 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/libs-tiktok-x-chaya-raichik-bomb-threat-twitter-of-libsoftiktok-rcna102784

Taxpayer-Funded PR Spending Scandal

In September 2025, reporting revealed that Walters had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in state education funds on contracts with out-of-state public relations firms to promote his personal national media profile. This spending continued after Governor Stitt issued an executive order banning such expenditures. An open records request showed Walters spent an additional $100,000 on PR contracts fifteen months after the governor’s ban. These contracts resulted in Walters making over 400 appearances on national news shows during his tenure.

Source: Oklahoma Watch, “Dozens of Lawsuits and Hundreds of TV Appearances: A Look Back at Superintendent Walters Tenure,” October 1, 2025. https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/10/01/dozens-of-lawsuits-and-hundreds-of-tv-appearances-a-look-back-at-superintendent-walters-tenure/

Source: Wikipedia, “Ryan Walters (American politician).”

Resignation

On September 23, 2025, one day after the PR spending scandal was reported, Walters announced on Fox News that he would resign as superintendent. He officially resigned on September 30, 2025, to become CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, an anti-teachers-union organization created by the conservative Freedom Foundation.

Source: HPPR, “Walters resignation affects Oklahoma state schools and 2026 election,” September 30, 2025. https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2025-09-30/walters-resignation-affects-oklahoma-state-schools-and-2026-election

Teacher Surveillance System

Walters repurposed the “Awareity” reporting system — originally created in 2022 for school safety and bullying concerns — to encourage anonymous write-ups of teachers, creating what educators described as a surveillance environment. Teacher Summer Boismier had her license revoked after sharing a link to the Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned project with students, which the state argued violated H.B. 1775 (Oklahoma’s law restricting teaching about “divisive concepts”). Boismier filed a federal lawsuit challenging the revocation.

Source: The Hechinger Report, “Can Oklahoma make public education ‘normal’ again?,” 2026. https://hechingerreport.org/can-oklahoma-make-public-education-normal-again/

Dozens of Lawsuits

Walters’ administration accumulated dozens of lawsuits covering wrongful termination, slander, library book policies, Bible purchases, and academic standards. Few were resolved in his favor. Frequent turnover in the agency’s legal department caused significant delays. One lawsuit, filed by NexStar and KFOR-TV for access to public Board of Education meetings, resulted in a federal court order granting the broadcaster access and a subsequent settlement requiring Walters and his former spokesman to pay $170,000 in attorneys’ fees.

Source: Oklahoma Watch, “Dozens of Lawsuits and Hundreds of TV Appearances,” October 1, 2025.

Source: Broken Arrow Sentinel, “Turbulent times: a look back at Supt. Ryan Walters’ tenure,” September 2025. https://basentinel.com/turbulent-times-a-look-back-at-supt-ryan-walters-tenure/

Controversies

Response to Nex Benedict’s Death

In February 2024, Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student at Owasso High School, died by suicide following a beating and months of bullying by fellow students. Walters’ response generated national calls for his removal from office. Critics cited his anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies as contributing to hostile school environments for vulnerable students.

Source: Americans United for Separation of Church and State, “Oklahoma Bible Mandate,” 2024.

Source: Wikipedia, “Ryan Walters (American politician).”