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OK GOP State Senator, Essentially: Ryan Walters’ Mandates Were Performative Bullshit
from the and-scene dept
As we discussed last week, Ryan Walters resigned from his position as the state Superintendent of Oklahoma and the mood across the state was sad and sour as a result.
Okay, while it’s very funny that Oklahoma businesses hosted celebration parties for Walters’ resignation while I can’t even hazard a guess at who my own state’s Superintendent is, the question for some of us is what would happen to all of Walters’ edicts and mandates he was issuing right up until the moment he resigned.
The answer, according to one Republican state senator is, essentially: don’t worry about it, because Walters’ mandates were just performative bullshit anyway. State Senator Adam Pugh, as you probably guess, put this in more polite terms.
State Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, said such mandates had no statutory authority anyway, so they wouldn’t be in effect even if Walters, his fellow Republican, remained as Oklahoma’s top education administrator.
Dozens of districts – including most of the state’s larger ones – have routinely ignored those mandates, saying they will obey state law. While Walters has threatened districts that don’t follow his mandates, saying he’ll downgrade district accreditation or subject them to special audits, he has no unilateral authority to do that. That authority falls to the state Board of Education, of which he is the chair but only one of seven members.
“Nothing happens, because nothing was going to happen, because there wasn’t statutory authority to do it,” Pugh said. “I’ve always maintained that position, because we have to be able to say, ‘What is the administrative authority to do something?’ It’s only what you’re given by law to do.
Which didn’t stop Walters from trying to bully school districts into doing what he wanted anyway, of course. But the point is that he had no real authority to follow through on his threats. While the state legislature can codify some of his mandates into state law, and in fact some GOP senators have said they may do so with some of them, Walters had no real authority to back up his bullying at the time.
So, what was he doing? Auditioning for a new job, almost certainly. This is speculation, but I really do think he wanted to join the Trump administration and the federal government, but that fell through when the administration wanted nothing to do with him. And so he likely pivoted to lobbying for his new role as CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, which is absolutely everything you already are assuming it is.
It is a partner organization created by the Freedom Foundation designed to offer educators an alternative to union membership. According to the Freedom Foundation’s website, the Teacher Freedom Alliance was created to address “the growing frustration teachers have with the direction public education is rapidly heading in no small part due to the radical agenda of the teachers unions.”
“The Teacher Freedom Alliance supports educators in their mission to develop free, moral, and responsible citizens,” A news release from March stated. “As an alternative to traditional unions, TFA offers pro-America educators a place to find support and comradery in an organization dedicated to restoring the broken education system—without any additional cost to those who choose to join.”
He stays on brand, I’ll give him that. So, I imagine this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing from Walters, though now he can shout about liberal tears and conspiracy theories from outside the government, which is a far better place for him.
Filed Under: adam pugh, education, oklahoma, ryan walters
Companies: freedom foundation, teacher freedom alliance
Comments on “OK GOP State Senator, Essentially: Ryan Walters’ Mandates Were Performative Bullshit”
The party just started: Oklahoma AG requests investigation of education department, 1 day after Walters resigns
Re:
Stay tuned….
So his efforts were all for show and exceeded his authority. But that still cost tax payers in his state resources to defend his actions and districts to comply with his mandates. Why would the tax payers be okay with that?
I think the state should calculate how much his unauthorized behavior cost them, but they probably never will.
When Ryan Walters explains that the alternative to the teachers union is less pay, less job security and fewer protections of any kind, I’m sure he’ll have millions of qualified teachers from across the US beating down his door to be a part of it… Ooooor , like the alternative doctors that RFK has brought into government, they’ll be a cavalcade of people with undiagnosed mental health problems, grifters, religious zealots or people fired with cause looking to cause as much damage to their profession as possible.
If an organization has “Freedom” in its name, there’s a pretty good chance that it is fascist.
Re:
see also: the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal advocacy group that only defends the rights of conservative Christians against any action the ADF considers “discriminatory”—even (and especially) if the action adheres to the principles of the separation of church and state
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I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out that Walters had a super well paid ghost employee. Of course my shock is that there was only 1.
i can’t help but read OK GOP State Senator as something with strands of “OK, landlord/boomer/ whatever” and “OK, go.”
Re:
You’re not alone; I had that same thought, Mr. Coward!
I couldn’t not see his actions as anything more than than a persistent plea to please, please, pleeeeease let him attach his lips to Trump’s behind at a national level.