Walters first discussed a mandate announced earlier this month requiring Oklahoma school districts to pay for all student meals.
“We told the districts, you’re going to provide these lunches for these kids,” Walters said.
In the mandate’s initial announcement, Walters relied on a statute that requires the state and districts to “provide a financial plan that will ensure full educational opportunities for every child in Oklahoma,” arguing that a full education includes no-cost school meals. However, Walters’ authority to require districts to spend funds in this way, without legislative approval, remains under question.
After the announcement of the mandate, Rep. Dick Lowe (R-Amber), chair of the House Common Education Committee, issued a news release saying the proposed changes “must be implemented legislatively, not through an unfunded mandate.”
School districts have also pushed back against the policy, saying numbers released by the department are misleading and ignore how district money is earmarked for certain spending.
Board members Chris VanDenhende and Michael Tinney said at the meeting they thought Walters’ numbers for student meal cost was significantly underestimated. Walters said he did not have patience with districts that are just “throwing their hands up in the air.”
“Are those people just making up those numbers?” Tinney said. “I mean, are they wrong?”
Walters responded the superintendents were “gaslighting the people of Oklahoma.”
VanDenhende then requested a financial report of school meal costs for all of Oklahoma’s public school students, which Walters agreed to.
Walters also repeated his plan to implement PragerU-backed ideology tests for teachers from “woke” states, announced earlier this month.
In a July 9 announcement, Walters said teachers from states with “progressive education policies” will be screened by a PragerU-backed assessment. PragerU is a conservative media company partnered with the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
According to the announcement, the assessment will test educators’ knowledge on the U.S. Constitution, American exceptionalism and the “fundamental biological differences between boys and girls.”
“If you’re coming from these states, you will take a test through the State Department to show you align to our standards,” Walters said at the meeting. “You’re not going to come in here and teach that there’s 27 genders. There’s boys and girls, that’s in our science standards. You’re going to come and you’re not going to undermine American exceptionalism by teaching anti-American, anti-Semetic hate.”
Walters said the tests would be rolled out “in the next two weeks or so,” despite school starting for most Oklahoma districts next month.
Questioned about the process for teachers from other states to become certified in Oklahoma — a process called reciprocity — Walters said teachers from Oklahoma pass exams, suggesting those exams equated to his proposed ideology tests.
“As we’re seeing the radicalization of some of these blue states, before we bring them in Oklahoma, we want to ensure we’re not bringing in people that are going to be antithetical to what this board, what the state of Oklahoma has asked of its teachers,” Walters said.
VanDenhende said he understood what Walters was trying to do, but offered a word of warning.
“I would just caution the department to ensure whatever they’re doing passes legal muster, because it sounds like we’re on the edge, and I don’t want us to cross over that bridge,” VanDenhende said. “So please make sure that you have a legal opinion before you proceed with any testing.”
Tinney asked if the test would first come through the board, and Walters replied that it would not.
Walters also reiterated his recent push to bring the American Virtual Academy to Oklahoma. The AVA is a private school Walters said is focused on “promoting patriotism and American values into the school system.”
Board members questioned Walters about recent stories in the press reporting an AVA-run charter school, Primavera, has been voted for closure by the Arizona Charter Board after consistent poor performance. Walters said the reports were “blatantly wrong.’
“This is not the school, the same school in Arizona that they’ve been referencing,” Walters said. “This is a private school… that they keep connecting it to another school. This is a different school with a different mission, completely different missions, completely different setup, completely different governance structure.”
In the partnership’s announcement, Walters said the AVA was seeking approval to be included in the state’s Parental Choice Tax Credit program. Board member Tinney said at the meeting that his interpretation of the statute was that only schools in Oklahoma may participate.
Walters responded the AVA has an Oklahoma address. However, the Secretary of State’s website does not currently list it as able to do business in Oklahoma.
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