State lawmakers prepare to vote on multiple rules proposed by State Supt. Ryan Walters

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — State lawmakers are preparing to vote on multiple rules proposed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters (R) during his first year in office that would impact a district’s accreditation.

Walters has proposed multiple rules on numerous topics ranging from teacher behavior, academic performance, a student’s gender listed on their education records, and what library books should be made available to students. If a district goes against the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s (OSDE) policy on these and other topics, the district could see its accreditation downgraded.

If a district’s accreditation is downgraded too much, it could lose accreditation. State law requires that districts shut down and disburse their students to neighboring districts that are still in good standing with the OSDE.

Within the last year, Walters has made threats to the accreditation of Tulsa Public Schools because of academic performance, but during a visit last week, he praised the district’s turnaround.

Walters has previously said the policy changes he is making will help get Oklahoma schools out of the bottom of national rankings while also returning the education of children back to their parents.

However, some of these new rules have also been accompanied by controversy and lawsuits.

A rule proposed by Walters not allowing students to change their gender even with parental consent led to a lawsuit being filed earlier this year. The family of the student had a court order demanding the change, but the Oklahoma State Board of Education refused.

When it comes to teacher behavior, opponents of Walters have accused the State Board of Education of dragging out proceedings to keep teachers out of the classroom, even if they have only been accused of wrongdoing. While Walters points to an incident in which a Western Heights teacher is accused of trying to meet a student for sex, opponents of accreditation being tied to teacher behavior point to an incident where a Norman Public Schools teacher shared a QR code helping students access banned books. Nearly a year later, that teacher’s case is still pending.

There is also a new lawsuit filed earlier this year by Edmond Public Schools (EPS) that claims Walters and the State Board of Education’s claims violated EPS’ local control of their school system when they tried to tell them what books they could or could not have on their shelves. Walters accused the district of pushing pornography on their students, but EPS said the two books are about sexual assault and not designed to be erotic in nature. Walters and the State Board of Education threatened an accreditation downgrade if the district did not remove the books.

“The threat of accreditation, it’s just left a mark on Tulsa and the chaos that ensued from a casual threat that was made several times over, so I want to proceed with caution,” said State Representative Melissa Provenzano (D-Tulsa) who has been studying the proposed rules for multiple weeks now for House Democrats.

Provenzano said accreditation is not an appropriate thing to tie to the numerous issues Walters is trying to address, especially when it comes to student performance in the classroom.

“I would say we already have existing processes for performance and tying it to accreditation gives me pause,” she said.

Republicans are cautious as well about accreditation because a district shutting down could be economically devastating to a city’s economy, but they are a bit more lenient on giving Walters some of what he wants as he tries new initiatives to get Oklahoma out of the bottom of national education rankings.

“I might have one or two of these rules that I still have concern or issue about resolving,” said State Representative Gerrid Kendrix (R-Altus) who is also the chairman of the House Administrative Rules Committee. “For the most part, the vast majority of that ties to the accreditation process and if we’ve given them the authority in the accreditation process, that’s what we’ve got to get cleared out.”

State Representative Clay Staires (R-Skiatook) has been working with Provenzano and OSDE directly and said claims that Walters and the State Board of Education don’t have the authority to make these new rules are mostly false. He said he’s found in state statute where the rules can be made.

“It says here clearly they can make these rules,” said Staires. “I’ve received many emails about this from individuals and groups who cut and paste the same message over and over again that they can’t do this, but it says here in the law that they can.”

At the end of Monday’s meeting, the committee said some of the votes that will be taken next week will likely not be on if the agency has the authority to make the new rules, but if it is a policy they as lawmakers want to go along with.

Like any piece of legislation, the rules must first go through the committee process, and then they will go to the full chamber for a vote. At the same time, the House is working on these new rules, and the State Senate has been examining the same set of rules and is going about it the same way.

Last week, the Senate Administrative Rules Committee limited discussion on proposed new rules for OSDE so an aide could go back and check with agency higher-ups if she was accurately portraying what is being proposed. She and the agency will answer lawmakers questions in writing before they take a vote next week.

If lawmakers don’t approve or reject a rule, it defaults to Governor Kevin Stitt for approval who has been for the most part on board with most of Walters’ proposals.