2nd ethics probe examines Ryan Walters for social media, political activity

With his handling of 2022 campaign funds already being questioned, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is also being investigated over whether certain posts on social media and certain comments on issues mostly concerning President-elect Donald Trump violate ethics rules about the use of state money, property or time.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission disclosed its latest investigation of Walters on Thursday when members voted 5-0 to authorize Ethics Commission executive director Lee Anne Bruce Boone to “pursue prosecution in district court.”

Commissioner Adam Weintraub then made a rare motion to make public the identity of the person being investigated. Matters taken up by the Ethics Commission are usually confidential, with investigations and complaints identified only through case numbers. Identification of those being investigated usually occurs only after a settlement agreement is reached or court action is taken, however, commissioners determined it was in the public’s interest to reveal Walters’ identity.

“In regard to cases 2024-37 and 2023-27, I fully move to make certain limited information regarding 2024-37 combined with 2023-27 public, based upon the determination that the release of such information is in the public’s interest,” he said.

At the same meeting, the Ethics Commission also voted 5-0 to file a subpoena seeking campaign records related to Walters’ successful 2022 election after not getting a response to a request made to him in October for the material. Walters’ attorney responded last month by saying Walters and his committee objected to the subpoena’s requests, arguing they lack any responsive documents to produce to the Ethics Commission. Commissioners also voted to make that investigation of Walters public.

Walters, who is halfway through his four-year term as state superintendent, did not respond to requests for comment to the Ethics Commission’s investigations prior to the publication of this article.

At a hearing on proposed administrative rule changes for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, OSDE director of communications Dan Isett declined comment.

“That’s a campaign thing, that’s a campaign-side thing,” Isett said.

After clarification that questions regarded the commission’s separate investigation into social media posts — including one from the official OSDE Twitter account, he reiterated the issue was a “campaign-side thing.”

The Ethics Commission released documents Friday disclosing that the two cases approved for prosecution involved Walters, who was notified of the social media investigation in a Dec. 18 letter sent to him by Margaret Kerr, general counsel for the commission. She informed him in the letter that the commission had approved the initiation of settlement negotiations, and Walters was asked to respond by writing in no less than 20 days.

Boone said Friday that Walters has not responded. She said the agency plans to file a civil case against him in Oklahoma County District Court.

“We gave him time to respond, and we’ve heard nothing,” Boone said.

Boone said different attorneys representing Walters have talked her office, but she said they have given conflicting responses.

“We don’t have anything on paper as far as (Walters’) response,” she said. “We don’t know what his take is on this.”

Walters’ alleged violations listed

Walters is accused of violating Ethics Rule 2.12, which deals with material posted by elected state officials indicating positions on issues, and Ethics Rule 2.16, which deals with the use of a social media account by a state officer. Those rules have long faced applicational uncertainty as social media use has expanded among state officials.

In her letter, Kerr alleged that Walters posted material using state funds, property or time to advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for an elective office and used social media maintained in the name of a state agency “to advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for an elective office.”

Kerr listed several examples, often involving tweets from Walters’ @RyanWaltersSupt account, which he describes his “personal account” in his bio:

• On Oct. 9, 2023, Walters issued a statement on his state of Oklahoma letterhead, saying in part, “Under President Trump, Israel could rest assured that the United States had its back, but under the Biden administration, the U.S. arms Israel’s enemies.”

• On or about June 23, 2024, he reposted on Twitter a post from Trump and added a comment: “Thank you @realDonaldTrump! Here in Oklahoma we are leading the country in reforming education!”

• On or about Oct. 30, Walters posted on Twitter stating in part, “We need @realDonaldTrump back in the White House.”

• On or about Oct. 31, someone used the Oklahoma State Department of Education Twitter account to post a video that included footage of migrant children climbing over a wall at the Mexican border. The words, “From 2021 to 2023, 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to Oklahoma,” appear in the picture. (Kerr said the post gives the impression the State Department of Education doesn’t support President Joe Biden and is advocating his defeat in the November 2024 election.)

• On Oct. 31, Walters posted a video and caption on Twitter stating, “The biggest threat to our economy, our kids and our families is (Vice President) Kamala Harris.”

• On Oct. 31, he posted on Twitter stating, “Time shut the border down: elect @realdonaldrtrump and @jdvance.”

• On Nov. 4, Walters posted on Twitter, “Tomorrow, we will elect @realDonaldTrump.”

• On Nov. 5 — Election Day — Walters posted on Twitter, “I just cast my ballot for President Trump” and “Let’s get President Trump back in the White House and get this country back on the right track!”

Walters’ rhetoric, policy harkens back to Trump

Since winning nearly 60 percent of Oklahoma’s vote for state superintendent in the 2022 general election, Walters has drawn lots of attention to himself with incendiary posts and appearances on Fox News. Like Trump, Walters supports eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. For a time after Trump’s election, Walters was mentioned as a possible candidate for Trump’s secretary of education.

Only halfway through his four-year term, Walters has pushed for controversial policy changes, including new rules related to banning books in public schools and supporting the creation of a state-supported Catholic charter school. He has been criticized by the state’s attorney general for transparency law complaints and has been taken to court for blocking an OKC news station from accessing State Board of Education meetings.

One of Walters’ most controversial efforts has involved directing Oklahoma classrooms to contain and teach the Bible as a U.S. historical document. The department’s initial bids to purchase Bibles, since modified, included stringent vendor specifications that one Bible in particular seemed to meet: The God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, colloquially known as the Trump Bible.

Walters’ anti-immigrant rhetoric, such as that seen in the posts where he entreaties Trump to take action, is not limited to social media. The most recent of Walters’ actions garnering mass criticism involves OSDE’s 2025 proposed administrative rules, in which Walters proposes eliminating the agency’s civil rights guidance and amending rules to require public schools to document and report the number of enrolled “undocumented” students. On Tuesday, Walters sued U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, other Biden administration officials and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement alleging that inaction on immigration enforcement has cost Oklahoma $474 million to educate undocumented children.

A public hearing was held Friday to allow public comment on the proposed rule changes, which will be submitted for legislative or gubernatorial approval if advanced by the State Board of Education.

Although Walters was absent from Friday’s hearing, dozens of Oklahomans stood ahead of OSDE general counsel Michael Beason and law clerk Kory Kile to share their grievances.

“It’s disappointing to know that citizens are always going to be the currency that is used for political gain,” YWCA Tulsa workforce development coordinator Kesa Mitchell said about the new measures regarding undocumented students.

Molly Bryant, the senior director of immigrant and refugee services at YWCA Tulsa, also spoke in opposition.

“The 1982 US Supreme Court decision Phyler v. Doe already guarantees all children, regardless of their immigration status, the right to public education,” Bryant said. “Yet Superintendent Ryan Walters’ recent proposal, this one that we’re against, undermines this fundamental principle. His claim that the initiative will reduce the cost and burden of undocumented students on schools and taxpayers is both misleading and harmful, distorting the reality of Oklahoma.

“These actions are politically-motivated taxes on schools and does nothing to further the mission of educating our children. Superintendent Walters was more interested in using this topic to further his own political ambitions, likely in the hopes of advancing his own career after being passed over for roles in the U.S. Department of Education.”

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