Franklin is a 44-year educator whose resume includes special education teacher, principal, district administrator and CareerTech superintendent, as well as the former chair of the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board.
On that board, he was one of two members who voted against what would have been the country’s first publicly funded religious school — a case that went to the Supreme Court.
Franklin told StateImpact in a July interview that there is no place for religion in public schools.
“Our constitution says that we keep those things separate,” Franklin said. “It is far too heavy of a burden for us to foist spiritual leadership onto the back of a third grade teacher.”
Franklin is a sharp departure from the last elected superintendent, Ryan Walters. Walters made national headlines for policies such as mandating Bibles in classrooms without authority and injecting Christian nationalism into social studies academic standards, as well as being a proponent of the proposed religious charter school Franklin voted against.
Franklin ran on a platform of depoliticizing the office and criticized Walters for his polarizing leadership.
“We need to take the divisiveness and the political rancor out of that position and get to the work of elevating student outcomes, working on readiness skills, job readiness skills for the young people that we're serving and see if we can't help drive this economy accordingly and build a workforce that we can depend on,” Franklin said. “That's my goal.”
Franklin came under fire after a parent spoke out about alleged abuse by Franklin at a camp for individuals with disabilities. He said after the student began hitting people with rocks, he put his hands on his face to tell the child to stop.
“And he yanked. And it did — my nails scratched behind his ear,” Franklin told StateImpact. “And it was one of those things I was sad about and frustrated. … But there was no yanking anybody by the ears and pulling them around. That would never have happened.”
While investigating opponent and Little Axe teacher James Taylor over a campaign video filmed at his high school, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission discovered similar campaign content filmed at Charles Page High School in Sand Springs. Franklin is not an employee of the district.
The commission said because the candidates pulled the content from social media, the matters were resolved.
Franklin won over history teacher James Taylor.
Taylor is an 18-year teacher and pastor with the backing of the Oklahoma GOP. He teaches history at Little Axe High School after being terminated from Oklahoma City Public Schools over his refusal to wear a mask during the pandemic.
Franklin faces Democrat Jenettie Marshall in the Nov. 3 general election.
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