Walters' congressional testimony
State Superintendent Ryan Walters testified earlier this month to Congress on the issue of Tulsa Public Schools’ contract with a Chinese language program. But the district says the contract was canceled nearly a month before his testimony.
Walters put the national spotlight on TPS for participating in the Chinese language program Confucius Classrooms, which has indirect ties to the Chinese government.
But even though Walters testified on September 19th the district maintains an active connection with the Chinese government through the program, TPS says it ended its contract nearly a month before. When asked, Walters said the district had stymied his requests for more info, and he hadn’t yet been told about the contract termination when he testified:
"We did not get information from them in the time that we requested. We continue to ask for all information available and we continued to see roadblocks from the district," Walters said.
But according to an email correspondence obtained by StateImpact between TPS and the department of education, the district made the department aware of the contract termination the week before Walters testified otherwise. His office has not yet returned our request for a response.
Compact negotiations
More than half of the tribal nations in the state sent a letter to the legislature and Governor Kevin Stitt, asking to come back to the table and negotiate on the issue of tribal-state compacts. OPMX's Allison Herrera has more.
The letter was signed by 24 tribal nation leaders, including the five largest tribes and many smaller nations. All expressed their gratitude about the results of July's special session where members of the legislature overturned two of Governor Stitt's vetoes of tribal tag and tobacco compacts.
They also expressed their dismay at the political polarization on the issue and say they're willing to go back and renegotiate compacts but that it needs to be done under a confidentiality agreement. Before the special session, Chickasaw Nation leaders found themselves in headlines around the state after the governor's office gave details of their negotiations to reporters. The letter was delivered earlier this week.
Vietnam memorial
There's still time to visit a traveling memorial that's in the area. A replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. is on display in El Reno. The American Veterans Traveling Tribute Wall stands eight feet tall and is 360 feet long. It bears the names of those who died in the Vietnam War, including 990 Oklahomans. The wall is on display through Saturday.
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