The Mystery of Ryan Walters: How a Beloved History Teacher Became Oklahoma鈥檚 Culture-Warrior-in-Chief
The state schools superintendent has become known for his relentless fight against 鈥渨oke ideology.鈥 Former students call his transformation dizzying.
By Linda Jacobson | October 5, 2023Ryan Walters was one of the most well-liked teachers at McAlester High School.
A history teacher and 2016 finalist for Oklahoma teacher of the year, he encouraged vigorous debates on pivotal moments like Roe v. Wade and, closer to home, the forced relocation of Native Americans known as the 鈥淭rail of Tears.鈥
During homecoming week, students gently mocked him on 鈥淒ress Like Ryan Walters Days,鈥 sporting his signature slim-fitting suits, skinny ties and color combinations that didn鈥檛 always blend well.
Life-size cut-outs of Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan in his classroom spoke to his conservative values. But if he was a firebrand, none could tell.
鈥淗e made us feel validated. He never told us that we were wrong,鈥 said Starla Edge, who had Walters for homeroom, history club and classes each year she was in school. Having come out as queer in eighth grade, she served as president of the school鈥檚 Gay-Straight Alliance junior year. But she never felt shunned by her favorite teacher. 鈥淚 got excited when he went into politics, because I thought, 鈥楾his is my voice.鈥 鈥
Now Edge barely recognizes the man who was elected Oklahoma鈥檚 state superintendent last November. In selfie videos from his car, Walters denounces 鈥渨oke ideology鈥 and frequently of pushing a radical agenda based on atheism, racial justice and gender identity. In a series of provocative statements, he鈥檚 called the state鈥檚 teachers union a and dismissed the separation of church and state as a
The relentless focus helped push the small-town teacher who never ran a school or a district into the national spotlight. In July, he spoke along with other conservative luminaries at a summit in Philadelphia held by the right-wing parent group, a platform for several GOP presidential hopefuls.
To Edge and many of Walters鈥檚 former students and colleagues, the transformation is dizzying.
鈥淭his is not the man that I knew for a large chunk of my life,鈥 she said.
To supporters in blood-red Oklahoma, however, it鈥檚 not Walters who鈥檚 changed, but the education system that鈥檚 gone off the rails.
鈥淲e want our teachers to teach 鈥 reading, writing and arithmetic,鈥 said Wade Burleson, a retired Baptist minister who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year and met Walters on the campaign trail. Burleson also wants school prayer and to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom 鈥 key tenets of a Walters formed in June. He called the state chief 鈥渙ne of those rare individuals who will do exactly what he said he was going to do.鈥
Walters declined interview requests from 蜜桃影视. But as the 38-year old builds his national profile, he鈥檚 coming under increasing scrutiny at home. Following his recent threats to take over the and a social media post that sparked bomb threats in a neighboring district, Democrats stepped up calls for his They cite investigations into his handling of COVID relief funds and a 鈥減attern of inflammatory language.鈥
Even some Republicans think his rhetoric has gone too far.
鈥淭his guy cares more about getting on than he does about doing his job,鈥 said Republican state Rep. Mark McBride, who leads a House education subcommittee. 鈥淪omeone has whispered in his ear that he could be governor or 鈥 secretary of education.鈥
Religious upbringing
Walters may not have set out to become a culture warrior, but his values and politics, like those of many in McAlester, reflect a deep religious upbringing.
Nestled between an Army munitions plant and a state prison, the former coal mining center some 91 miles south of Tulsa is a town of and more than .
His father was a and his mother worked at . Both remain active in the , where he is a minister and she is elementary education director. Like them, Walters attended Harding University, a conservative Christian college in Searcy, Arkansas. His brother and sister also attended.
In honoring him as an 鈥渙utstanding young alumnus,鈥 Walters, who is married and has four children under age 10, said he chose the school for its 鈥淐hristian mission.鈥
Harding students take mandatory Bible classes and attend chapel daily. Its explicitly forbids same-sex relationships and maintains that 鈥済ender identity is given by God and revealed in one鈥檚 birth sex.鈥
It鈥檚 an atmosphere that contrasted sharply with the McAlester Walters returned to in 2011.
His eight-year tenure at the high school coincided with greater visibility by the LGBTQ community. In 2015, students at the high school founded a Gay-Straight Alliance. Based on from the Obama administration, the district also set aside a 鈥渇amily鈥 restroom for transgender students to use.
Brenda Calahan, a retired art teacher who served as the GSA鈥檚 first adviser, said many in the community didn鈥檛 welcome the developments.
鈥淚t was rough for those kids,鈥 she said.
Members of the wrestling team one of the club鈥檚 founding members, setting up a point system for everything from slashing his tires to killing him, said Debra McDaniel, his mother. He left soccer practice one day to find screws stuck in the tires of his car.
The principal at the time told Calahan to remove students鈥 LGBTQ-themed artwork from a display case near the front of the school. Some students petitioned the school board to disband the club, which still operates today.
Edge remembers overhearing a 鈥渇ew grumpy teachers鈥 complain about the gender-neutral bathroom. Not Walters. Other staff members, she added, made crude references to the GSA, mocking it as 鈥済ay shits allowed.鈥 But Walters, she said, 鈥渨ould have shut that down.鈥
鈥楾here was no black or white鈥
That view is widely held among former students at McAlester, where Walters taught three Advanced Placement courses 鈥 U.S. history, world history and government 鈥 and also coached boys basketball and girls tennis.
Former students interviewed by 蜜桃影视 admired his approachability and sense of fun. When Edge struggled to grasp the finer points of Islam during his AP World History class, for example, he offered to lend her his own copy of the Quran. For another class, he took students to McAlester City Hall, where they took over for the day, playing the roles of mayor and department heads. In a mock council meeting, they voted in favor of allowing residents to own a potbelly pig as a pet.
鈥淲hen we got done, I was pushing that we needed to do it again,鈥 said Mayor John Browne, a Democrat who is now roundly critical of Walters. 鈥淲hen I found out that he was going to be running [for superintendent], I thought, 鈥楬e鈥檒l be good.鈥 鈥
During classroom debates 鈥 with desks pushed to either side of class 鈥 Walters critiqued each side鈥檚 argument and expected students to back up their claims with evidence.
Shane Hood, another former student, remembers a classroom discussion of the Indian Removal Act, which President Andrew Jackson signed in 1830. Students split over whether the law was racially motivated and unjust or actually benefited Native Amerians. While giving students their say, Hood said, Walters held firmly that white expansionism caused the suffering and death of tribes as they traveled 1,200 miles to what would later become Oklahoma.
鈥淗e was much more nuanced,鈥 said Hood, who, like Edge, took all three of Walters鈥檚 AP courses. He now attends Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and credits Walters with inspiring him to study political science. 鈥淚n his classroom, there was no black and white. It was all shades of gray. Now it’s, 鈥業’m right and you’re wrong.鈥欌
That reticence in the classroom stood out in a town where 74% of voters chose former President Donald Trump in 2016. Some teachers, Hood remembers, wore MAGA hats in the classroom and let student slurs like 鈥渓ibtard鈥 go unchallenged. But not Walters. Some students even questioned if he was a 鈥渃loseted Democrat,鈥 Edge said.
Tennis and politics
If his students were ignorant of Walters鈥檚 private views, that was intentional, according to those who know him. 鈥淣o one knew if he was a Democrat or a Republican, and that鈥檚 why they loved him so much,鈥 said Chad Waller, a friend and former head coach of the girls tennis team.
After tournaments, Waller remembers the young educator grading papers past midnight. Walters, he said, gets a 鈥渂ad rap.鈥
鈥淭he man eats, sleeps and breathes education,鈥 he said.
But it was tennis that paved the way for his friend鈥檚 foray into politics.
In 2018, Kevin Stitt, a mortgage company owner, became the GOP nominee for governor. At a tennis tournament that year, Walters met Stitt, who was cheering on his .
鈥淲e kind of struck up a friendship,鈥 in the Harding alumni video. After his victory, Stitt invited him to be part of an education working group that advised the incoming administration.
That year, Walters got busy shoring up his conservative bona fides. With no visible prior record of writing for national publications, he gave full-throated voice to views he鈥檇 long kept out of the classroom. In for The Federalist, an influential conservative journal known for its vetting of federal judicial nominees, he warned of “runaway district courts鈥 that would 鈥渦ndermine the will of the people.鈥 Foreshadowing some of his future positions, he criticized the establishing a right to gay marriage, saying it demonstrates why justices shouldn鈥檛 have final say on constitutional matters.
A year later, he landed a job running Oklahoma Achieves, the education arm of the State Chamber, a commerce organization that, like Stitt, supports school choice. more than doubled his teacher’s salary. As superintendent, he makes over $124,000.
His rise did not go unnoticed.
鈥淭his random, unknown, fresh-faced teacher from McAlester all of a sudden popped into the State Chamber spotlight,鈥 said Erika Wright, founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, a nonprofit that opposes private school choice. 鈥淭hat is the moment where I first questioned 鈥榃ho is this guy, and what鈥檚 the bigger plan?鈥 鈥
鈥業sn鈥檛 that a woke idea?鈥
At the time, those with more left-leaning views said they could still find common ground with Walters.
In 2019, Rep. Jacob Rosecrants of Norman, a Democrat and former Oklahoma City Schools teacher, began drafting to preserve a 鈥減lay-based鈥 teaching approach in early-childhood classrooms. He and Walters agreed on the value of recess and hands-on learning.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 spout the far-right talking points he does now,鈥 Rosecrants said. Progress on the bill stalled in 2020, and by the time they spoke of it again the following year, Stitt had appointed Walters as his education secretary.
This time, Walters seemed skeptical. 鈥淚 could hear his tone change, and he began to ask questions 鈥 like, 鈥業sn鈥檛 that a woke idea?鈥 or 鈥楬ow is this not indoctrination?鈥 鈥 Rosecrants said. 鈥淲hy? Because the words 鈥榮ocial and emotional learning鈥 were in my bill.鈥
What happened? The pandemic, for one. The long closures that followed lockdowns in March 2020 mobilized parents, particularly those on the right. School board meetings became battlegrounds over decisions to keep schools closed and kids tied to their laptops. The timing coincided with a right-wing backlash over many aspects of classroom life. Many parents began demanding restrictions on everything from library books on gender and sexual issues to the teaching of racial discrimination in U.S. history.
Social-emotional learning 鈥 a decades-old practice associated with teaching kids resilience, empathy and self-control 鈥 got caught up in the fight. Some conservatives criticized its and called it 鈥渓鈥 and 鈥渢oo intrusive.”
Oklahoma was not immune. In 2021, it became one of the first states in the country to pass a law prohibiting teachers from offering lessons that suggest students should feel guilt or anguish because of their race. The following year, Stitt signed the 鈥淪ave Women鈥檚 Sports Act,鈥 which forbids transgender athletes from competing in girls鈥 sports.
With his young daughter Violet smiling and giving a thumbs up beside him, Walters made one of his earliest to celebrate the law鈥檚 passage. 鈥淲e are not going to fall prey to the far left,鈥 he said.
Making the culture war personal
His November election as state superintendent allowed him to step outside Stitt鈥檚 shadow. Many hoped taking control of the department of education would mark a turn to more substantive matters, particularly in a state that saw in student performance nationally following the pandemic.
But if anything, Walters doubled down on his rhetoric.
He a teacher鈥檚 license after she protested the state鈥檚 divisive concepts law by giving students a link to banned books from the Brooklyn Public Library. She later resigned and is for defamation. More recently, he pressured the Western Heights district to who performs as a drag queen on nights and weekends and launched an into its hiring practices.
While other GOP education chiefs occasionally wade into the culture wars, Walters spends most of his time there. He鈥檚 established a “granular-level focus” on specific districts, and that makes his sharp rhetoric seem personal, said Deven Carlson, a political science professor at the University of Oklahoma.
In with conservative talk show host Steve Deace, Walters acknowledged taking the host鈥檚 advice to make his campaign 鈥渁 referendum on groomers.鈥 Typically used to describe sexual predators, the term is often employed by conservatives to describe anyone who supports LGBTQ inclusion 鈥 potentially minimizing real threats of child sexual abuse, experts say, while demonizing non-heterosexuals.
In May, he portraying teachers unions as a threat to children鈥檚 safety because of their liberal views on LGBTQ issues.
For Walters, the fight is existential. 鈥淭he forces that you all are fighting 鈥 want to destroy our society,鈥 he said at the recent Moms for Liberty event in Philadelphia. 鈥淭hey want to destroy your family, and they want to destroy America as we know it.鈥
鈥楲et鈥檚 not tie it to skin color鈥
The rhetoric has many in McAlester wondering how well they actually knew the man who taught and coached their children for so many years.
Stacy Gorley Williams said her son, Vinny, who played small forward for McAlester High鈥檚 basketball team, thought Walters 鈥渨alked on water.鈥
Walters鈥檚 wife Katie, a therapist, worked for Williams at a nonprofit providing mental health services, and the two often sat together during games. Williams, who chairs the county鈥檚 Democratic party and was a charter member of a local LGBTQ advocacy group, said if Walters had given her the impression that he was biased, she wouldn鈥檛 have let Vinny play for him.
鈥淚 have zero tolerance for people who don’t accept diversity,鈥 she said.
The questions only compound when it comes to Walters鈥檚 handling of his area of expertise: U.S. history.
In July, during a Republican meeting at a library in Norman, he appeared to suggest that one of the most shameful events in the state鈥檚 history, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, was not racially motivated. A white mob destroyed the thriving Black business district of Greenwood. The violence led to the deaths of an estimated 300 Black people, an episode that was suppressed in Oklahoma for decades.
An audience member suggested the state鈥檚 divisive concepts law put teachers in a tough spot: How can they discuss the Tulsa massacre without running afoul of its tricky requirement to shield students from distress?
As a teacher, Walters served that in 2018 confirmed the episode鈥檚 place in state , calling it one of many examples of 鈥渞ising racial tensions鈥 in the 20th century. At the Norman meeting, he insisted the massacre should be taught, but through the lens of individual responsibility.
鈥淟et鈥檚 not tie it to skin color,鈥 he said.
He later called the violence 鈥渞acist鈥 and 鈥渆vil,鈥 and said the media twisted his words.
Remembering how skillfully Walters handled the lesson on the Trail of Tears, not flinching from its racial dimensions, Hood, his former student, often wonders if Walters believes what he says.
鈥淚t’s too much of a transformation in my opinion to be natural,鈥 he said.
Ryan Walters is not who you think he is.
Branding and performing
For his part, Walters rejects the notion that he鈥檚 changed. Responding to a debate question , he said, 鈥淭he reality is my students didn鈥檛 know what my political background was.鈥
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 tell them what to think,鈥 he said of his time in the classroom. 鈥淚 challenged them to think.鈥
Regardless of his actual views, many of them 鈥 like his support for funding a religious charter school with public funds 鈥 go down well in a state where two-thirds of Republican voters favor candidates who talk about God and Christianity, according to a poll last fall.
Some see his tactics, like the car videos and steady stream of audacious statements, as elements of brand building and securing a base 鈥 perhaps in anticipation of a gubernatorial run when Stitt leaves office in 2026.
鈥淗e鈥檚 very ambitious, and I think that鈥檚 what took over,鈥 said Rosecrants, the Democratic representative. 鈥淚t leads me to believe that all of this is for a bigger purpose.鈥
Rick Hess, director of Education Policy Studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, compared Walters to another high-profile state leader with national aspirations 鈥 Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Last year, Newsom paid for in seven red states promoting California as a sanctuary for those seeking an abortion.
鈥淔or an elected chief in blue and red states, unfortunately, the incentives are there to become a performer,鈥 Hess said. 鈥淲alters is responding to the incentives, no matter how unhealthy they may be.鈥
But with his star on the rise, Walters faces at home. The state ethics commission fined him for failing to report campaign contributions, including one from the conservative 1776 Project PAC. And two audits criticized of a federally funded program to help poor families while he was secretary of education. Over $650,000 in federal relief funds went toward TVs, arcade games and furniture instead of curriculum and tutoring. The Republican state auditor鈥檚 office and the FBI are also .
In a podcast with 1776 Project PAC founder Ryan Girdusky, the attacks against him 鈥渁bsurd.鈥 Dan Isett, department spokesman, said the Democrats鈥 calls for an 鈥渞epresent a direct threat to our democracy.鈥
Supporters say outrage from the left proves he鈥檚 been effective. 鈥淭his is a man of principle. Has he made mistakes? Possibly,鈥 said Burleson, the retired minister. 鈥淏ut when you are attacked by people unjustly, there’s a tendency to come out strong.鈥
Confrontation in Tulsa
This summer, he took his most aggressive stance yet against Oklahoma鈥檚 largest school system, the 33,000-student Tulsa district, and its former leader Deborah Gist.
He threatened a state takeover after Tulsa officials reprimanded a Moms for Liberty-backed board member who He later accused Gist of failure to disclose how much the district was spending on , which she鈥檇 described as a 鈥漜losely-held core value.鈥
To prevent the hostile action, she Aug. 22. The state board accredited the district, but 鈥渨ith deficiencies,鈥 noting low academic performance and poor financial oversight. fell even more than . But students in the state鈥檚 second-largest district, Oklahoma City, lost just as much ground in math, and rank lower than Tulsa overall.
The intensity of the fight worries observers in other districts, who see in Tulsa a harbinger of where the growing toxicity in education might lead nationally. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now seeing partisan politics become retaliatory politics,鈥 said Susan Enfield, superintendent of the Washoe County schools in Reno, Nevada. 鈥淭his is ego-driven, reckless leadership.鈥
As the state board deliberated the Tulsa district鈥檚 future, events at the nearby Union Public Schools demonstrated how incendiary Oklahoma鈥檚 education politics had become. The district received bomb threats six days in a row after Walters from a far-right account featuring a local elementary school librarian. The threats continued well into September.
The librarian鈥檚 original TikTok video seemed to poke fun at Walters, saying her 鈥渞adical liberal agenda is teaching kids to love books and be kind.鈥
Walters, who once got a kick out of reading his about his tight pants and patchy beard, apparently didn鈥檛 see the humor.
鈥淲oke ideology is real and I am here to stop it,鈥 he wrote.
Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation has provided financial support to Every Kids Counts Oklahoma and its predecessor Oklahoma Achieves, and currently provides support to 蜜桃影视. Ryan Walters led both state advocacy groups.
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