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Oklahoma’s new state superintendent, Lindel Fields, said he’ll spend the next 15 months stabilizing and strengthening the Department of Education for whomever is elected to state superintendent in 2026. Fields, a retired career tech administrator, isn’t running.
“None of the 15 months is going to be about trying to convince you to vote for me, so we’re going to focus on education,” he said.
Appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt last week to replace Ryan Walters, Fields was sworn in Tuesday, October 7th. In a meeting with local media that afternoon, he laid out his priorities, which includes improving communication with agency staff, school employees, and local media.
The agency will conduct a review of all pending lawsuits, vendor contracts and open records requests. And they’ll be working to assemble the agency’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal to present to the Board of Education at its October 23 meeting.
