Donald Burdick, Katie Quebedeaux and Kendra Wesson are now off the governing board of the State Department of Education. In a news release, Stitt cited Oklahoma’s low national test scores and “ongoing controversy.”
“After months of headlines followed by disappointing NAEP scores this month, it’s clear that our education infrastructure has fallen prey to needless political drama,” Stitt said.
Released last month, Oklahoma’s National Assessment of Education Progress scores remain among the lowest in the country.
The remaining board members, Sarah Lepak and Zach Archer, were absent from the board’s last meeting in which it passed a slew of controversial administrative rules, including one that would require schools to check citizenship documentation.
While still voting unanimously on every agenda item, the two have also pushed back somewhat on State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ initiatives. Lepak questioned Walters over his classroom Bible mandate, and Archer led the charge to end required monthly in-person updates from Tulsa Public Schools.
The move from Stitt may signal another crack in the relationship between the governor and Walters. It comes a week after Stitt publicly lauded Bixby Public Schools Superintendent Rob Miller at the State of the State address for the district’s cellphone ban policy. Miller has a pending defamation lawsuit against Walters.
Walters took to X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday afternoon, saying Stitt had joined the “swampy political establishment that President Trump is fighting against.”
“The board members that stood with us, working with the Trump Administration to make our schools safer and better, have been fired for political purposes,” Walters said. “Every Oklahoman should be clear this move undermines Oklahoma kids and parents and an America First agenda.”
Senate Democratic Leader Julia Kirt (D-Oklahoma City) praised Stitt’s decision to remove the board members in a statement.
“The state superintendent and his board have continually placed politics over Oklahoma’s children,” Kirt said. “I’ve previously stated the governor had the power to appoint new members to the board in order to improve accountability — this action has been a long time coming and is a positive step on behalf of Oklahoma schools.”
While one seat of the board remains vacant — as it has since May 2023 — Stitt nominated Ryan Deatherage from Kingfisher, Michael Tinney from Norman and Chris VanDenhende from Tulsa to fill the rest.
Deatherage is a 911 director for Kingfisher County, Tinney is an attorney and the husband of Ginger Tinney, executive director of the teacher’s association Professional Oklahoma Educators, and VanDenhende is the CEO of Mint Turbines.
The Senate must approve their nominations before they can begin service.
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