State Board of Education approves new legal counsel amid tensions with Supt. Ryan Walters

In just seven minutes, the State Board of Education pushed through agenda items they had been asking Superintendent Ryan Walters to address for weeks.

Board members called a special meeting, the first ever held by the board itself, to hire new legal counsel after Walters canceled their August monthly meeting.

In the unprecedented session, four board members quickly approved Oklahoma City attorney Ryan Leonard to advise the board on its duties and procedures.

“Everything shows me he is very qualified to do his job,” said board member Mike Tinney.

Leonard replaces former board attorney Chad Kutmas, who stepped down.

“This is not how you run the State Department of Education. There’s nothing about any of this that is normal or right,” said board member Chris Van Dehende.

Board members say the struggle to get their agenda items addressed reflects an ongoing power struggle with the superintendent. Walters was not present at the meeting, but his communications director said he is focused on tackling larger issues facing Oklahoma schools.

One of those unresolved “big issues” is approving emergency teacher certifications, which was on the agenda for the canceled August meeting. Some teachers are currently working as substitutes and missing out on full pay while waiting for approval.

“That’s totally unacceptable. I do not know how we are going to fix that. We needed to have the August meeting,” Van Dehende said.

After the meeting, Attorney General Gentner Drummond criticized the board’s decision, calling it another example of dysfunction at the department and labeling the newly appointed attorney “woefully inadequate” to serve the board, even though Leonard was on the AG’s approved list of attorneys.