State Lawmakers respond to special OSBE meeting, say they're 'not surprised' Superintendent Walters didn't show

State lawmakers from both chambers and both sides of the aisle gathered at the Capitol for Wednesday’s special State Board of Education meeting. Many say they’re not surprised that State Superintendent Ryan Walters did not show up, but say they’re disappointed by his absence. 

Response to special board meeting: 

“I was glad it went very smooth, very official and it followed the law, that's all we really wanted, that's the way you should do that and so I was very glad to see that happen today,” said Rep. Dick Lowe (R-Amber).  

“They took care of business, it took five or ten minutes, and we're headed down the road, that's the way it should be,” said the former Rep. Mark McBride.  

“The meeting in general was quick and to the point,” said Rep. Ellen Pogemiller (D-OKC). “There was clearly a need for our state board members to have an attorney to be able to talk about issues that have been occurring both before meetings and during meetings, have an ally and a trusted source for information on what they are able to do in their roles as state board members. The board now has an attorney that they can turn to for questions that they have.”

“I was thrilled that the state board finally stepped up and realized they have the power to do these things. I think it's beyond time they have an attorney that can advise them on following the law and performing their function,” said Sen. Mark Mann (D-OKC). “I'm pleased that they found a path forward. I'm proud that they have figured out a path to get the support they need in terms of an attorney that will give them sound advice. They've been without a board secretary, I think since December, maybe October. Those are two things that the board needs to function.”

Response to Walters’ absence: 

“I have never seen a state superintendent not show up at a meeting like this, so I would call it historic,” said Pogemiller. “I mean I'm not surprised. This was a room full of people who are frustrated and have not had an opportunity to ask questions and challenge some of the policies that are being made unilaterally by the state superintendent, that is typically not a room that the state superintendent would show up in ... He talks to our schools all the time about accountability, as a taxpayer I would want my state superintendent to show up in a meeting like that. It shows a lack of accountability not only to our schools but to taxpayers at large."

“I really don't have any comment on whether he was here or not here, there were two other board members not here either. There was a majority and that's what it takes to do a meeting,” said Lowe. 

“I didn't expect him to show up. Ryan doesn't show up unless he can be the center of attention and today the four board members that called this meeting they had the majority, they were going to accomplish the two items on the agenda no matter if he showed up or not. I didn't think he would have the backbone to show up and sit in that meeting,” said Mann. “I wasn't shocked that he didn't show up and if he showed up it wasn't going to be a meaningful conversation and he wasn't going to participate in a way to actually accomplish anything."

“This today, I mean I think that's total disrespect to the people of Oklahoma,” said Mark McBride. “In a sense it was a good thing because there were no theatrics. It would have been a circus if he would have been here.” 

Past impeachment push: 

“I was here at the beginning of this reign of terror of Ryan Walters. I am a private citizen now, but I still have a voice,” said McBride. “I think that we have a lot of facts, I built the facts, I've given over piles and documents of facts that this individual is basically incompetent to run the office."

When he was serving as a republican representative, McBride pushed to begin impeachment proceedings or even discussions, but house leadership at the time did not take that action.

"We had the opportunity to do some things, as far as impeachable: incompetence is an impeachable offense in my opinion,” said McBride. “I wish more legislators would actually stand up.” 

Push to revisit impeachment discussion: 

“Is it impeachable, can you get it done? Now that's a heavy lift,” said McBride. 

“I think that there is plenty of information that would warrant that discussion. Really just dereliction of duty, that agency is barely functioning, it’s in the worst shape it's ever been in. He continues to ignore that and just comes up with one gimmick after another,” said Mann.

“I think there are plenty of instances that we could bring up that warrant a discussion of impeachment. You can't impeach based on disagreements, you can't impeach based on a political stance, but I think what is different with this superintendent is just his dereliction of duty and the shape that agency is in. He is not performing the job he was hired to perform,” said Mann.

“There should have been talks about it three years ago. The goal is: is there enough information out there that we should investigate whether he is not doing the duties of his office? I think, absolutely there is plenty of evidence we should have gone through and can still go through the impeachment process,” said Pogemiller.

Pushback on impeachment discussions:

“We've read the constitution and what it says for impeachment, and you've got to make sure that you have the facts, that they are impeachable facts and disagreement is not one of them. Not agreeing with what something says or does is not part of the impeachment process and we wouldn't want to start just impeaching people because we disagree with them,” said Lowe.  

Push to shift the focus back to education: 

“The fundamental values of the state department of education is allocating funds and making sure those funds are spent to help and support kids in our public schools, that's the job. The beginning of the year is the most critical time that we ensure those dollars are getting to our students,” said Pogemiller.

“I think we're trying to work forward to help kids, and that's the key thing here, what do we do to move forward to help the kids? Let's work together, let's work together and do the right thing for our schools, our kids,” said Lowe. “I just want everybody to do their job, let's just do their job for our kids.”  

Response from OSDE: 

“Superintendent Walters is focused on tackling the big issues facing Oklahoma schools and is pleased to welcome Ryan Leonard to the team.”

We asked OSDE spokesperson Madison Cercy why Superintendent Walters was not in attendance at the meeting, and we did not get a clear response.