Current and former Oklahoma State Department of Education officials refuse to discuss who has been driving a state-owned vehicle that traveled frequently to country clubs, visited Texas, parked at stores at odd hours and consistently returned to former state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ home address.
The vehicle, a Chevrolet Suburban, was issued to Joseph Porter, an assistant in Walters’ administration who still works at the Education Department, state records show. Despite the vehicle being listed under Porter’s name, Oklahoma Voice’s analysis of state vehicle tracking data shows the SUV returned to Walters’ home in Edmond more times than any other location in 2025, leaving from there most mornings, returning at midday and regularly parking there overnight.
State-owned vehicles track every address where they stop, the length of each drive, and the time of departure and arrival, but the logs don’t contain information about the purpose of each stop — nor who was driving. Oklahoma law requires state employees to use taxpayer-funded vehicles only for their official duties.
Walters, a Republican who resigned on Sept. 30 to lead an anti-teacher-union nonprofit, said in an interview with Oklahoma Voice that multiple people used the Suburban for official agency work, but he said he didn’t want to discuss specifics. He declined to say whether he personally drove the car.
“It would have depended on what was going on, where things were headed. So, it just depends,” Walters said. “It would depend on what the particular day (was), what the event was, where we were headed.”
Location records show the vehicle’s travel abruptly stopped after he left office.
Porter, whose name was still listed with the vehicle even after Walters’ resignation, declined to speak to Oklahoma Voice and referred all requests for comment to current state Superintendent Lindel Fields’ communications staff. The Education Department’s communications office did not return requests to interview Porter or provide a response for this story.
Instead, the Education Department referred all questions to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, a different agency that oversees the state fleet.
The agency has assigned multiple vehicles to the Education Department, but it has no information about which employees use them, agency spokesperson Christa Helfrey said.
“Agencies monitor vehicle assignments and usage and can speak to their own policies and procedures,” Helfrey wrote in a message to Oklahoma Voice.
During Walters’ final weeks as state superintendent, the Education Department denied that he had a state-owned vehicle, and the agency therefore refused to provide records of his vehicle usage to Oklahoma Voice.
After Walters left, the agency turned over documents listing all of its state-owned cars. Those records showed Porter was assigned the Chevrolet Suburban.
Oklahoma law permits certain state employees, including elected officials, to drive taxpayer-funded vehicles while performing their official duties, including to travel between home and work. But, they are barred from using the vehicles for personal transportation, like to stores, shopping centers and golf courses, according to state rules.
Only the governor, his family and the lieutenant governor are allowed to use publicly funded vehicles for personal matters, under Oklahoma law and state Supreme Court precedent. That’s because state law requires the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety to provide them transportation and a security detail.
Location records show the Education Department’s Suburban made three school visits, which coincide with Walters’ public appearances in Tulsa at Carnegie Elementary on Jan. 30 and Unity Learning Academy on April 7 to celebrate reading initiatives, and at Drumright High School on April 11 to recognize a newly built activity center.
The vehicle made about 140 stops at the Education Department building, often leaving after a few hours.
Tracking data also showed four drives to Texas, where Walters’ campaign manager and senior adviser, Matt Langston, is based.
In a statement on Walters’ behalf, Langston said trips to Texas were made in an official capacity to meet with members of the Texas Legislature, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s office, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas State Board of Education.
The trips also were for meetings with conservative commentator Glenn Beck, high-profile Christian nationalist David Barton, representatives from the right-wing Heritage Foundation, U.S. Department of Education officials and “numerous other key stakeholders involved in Oklahoma education,” Langston said.
The state-owned SUV made a day trip Feb. 25 to the Texas State Capitol in Austin before returning to Walters’ home address late that night, according to its tracking data. It arrived March 7 at the American Journey Experience museum in Irving next door to Beck’s production studio. On July 25, location records show it visited downtown Grapevine in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and a nearby restaurant before returning to Oklahoma.
The vehicle was parked overnight from Sept. 8-9 in a luxury apartment complex in downtown Austin, according to the logs. Walters called into a late-night FOX News appearance Sept. 8 to discuss prayer in schools with what appeared to be the Texas Capitol behind him.
Tracking data also shows the vehicle made 17 visits to two country clubs, Oak Tree in Edmond and Hidden Trails in south Oklahoma City. Some of these visits took place on the same date as two Oklahoma State Board of Education meetings in May and June.
“Due to harassment from the press and left-wing agitators, several country clubs were used as secure meeting locations with education stakeholders,” Langston said in a statement.
Oklahoma Voice sought an explanation from Porter for the Texas trips and country club visits, but neither he nor the Education Department returned requests for comment.
An analysis of the vehicle’s tracking records shows it traveled regularly from Walters’ home to Walmart, CVS stores, a hair salon, fast food restaurants and his neighborhood clubhouse, which features a pool, playground and gym. These visits took place at all hours of the day, but the purpose of each visit is not documented.
Voters expect their government officials to use taxpayer-funded resources for a public benefit, said Abigail Bellows, senior policy director of anti-corruption and accountability at Common Cause, a government watchdog group.
“Whether or not there was a violation in this particular instance, this episode is an opportunity for voters and public officials at every level to affirm what the expectation is for public servants,” Bellows said. “And that voters expect public servants who will truly be acting in the public interest and not seeking to use public resources for their personal benefit.”
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence.
