Ryan Walters
Ryan Walters (Republican Party) was the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction. He assumed office on January 9, 2023. He left office on September 30, 2025.
Walters (Republican Party) ran for election for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Walters resigned as Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction on September 30, 2025.[1]
Biography
Ryan Walters earned a bachelor's degree in history from Harding University in 2010. Walters' career experience includes working as the CEO of Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, a history teacher with Millwood High School and McAlester High School, and the executive director of Oklahoma Achieves.[2][3]
Elections
2022
See also: Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2022
General election
General election for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction
Ryan Walters defeated Jena Nelson in the general election for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ryan Walters (R) | 56.8 | 650,310 |
 | Jena Nelson (D) | 43.2 | 495,031 | |
| Total votes: 1,145,341 | |||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction
Ryan Walters defeated April Grace in the Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ryan Walters | 53.4 | 149,147 |
 | April Grace | 46.6 | 130,168 | |
| Total votes: 279,315 | |||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Jena Nelson advanced from the Democratic primary for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction
Ryan Walters and April Grace advanced to a runoff. They defeated John Cox and William Crozier in the Republican primary for Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction on June 28, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ryan Walters | 41.5 | 142,630 |
| ✔ | | April Grace | 30.6 | 105,372 |
 | John Cox | 24.1 | 83,065 | |
| William Crozier | 3.8 | 12,950 | ||
| Total votes: 344,017 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ryan Walters did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign website
Walters’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Ryan is a lifelong advocate of improving Oklahoma’s education system and helping every student reach their full potential.
I believe we as a society should strive to fulfill Martin Luther King Jr’s dream of judging people by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. Unfortunately, a philosophy that teaches the opposite of this principle is infecting our classrooms, and we need to put a stop to it. CRT is a dangerous and racist philosophy, and all it does is divide and characterize entire groups of people solely based on the color of their skin. As superintendent, I promise to advocate for CRT’s removal from any curriculum that comes from the State Board of Education.
When schools close, the results are detrimental, and our children suffer. That’s why from day one as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Education, I fought hard to keep schools open. I worked with Governor Stitt on an Executive Order and the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce on an initiative that allowed government employees and business owners to step in and serve as substitute teachers to alleviate the shortage. We must utilize all the resources we have to keep our children in the classroom.
Every Oklahoma student deserves access to an excellent teacher. As a teacher myself, I know one of the ways we can keep our best teachers is to give them opportunities for promotion while staying in the classroom. A teacher’s only pathway to a raise should not be strictly through an administrative position that takes them further away from students. As Secretary of Education, I am working with Governor Stitt and legislative leaders on legislation that would create a pathway for our best teachers to make six-figure salaries. This would allow our excellent teachers to stay in the classroom and empower them to train others around them. We also must break the grip that unions have on our teachers, which hinders our teachers’ pay and professional development. As State Superintendent, I will do all I can to lift up our quality teachers and attract and retain the best and brightest to serve our students in every classroom.
PRO LIFE I am 100% unapologetically pro-life, and I will be a tireless advocate for our most vulnerable. A child’s life is a gift from God and must be protected. We should not give a single taxpayer dollar to organizations, like Planned Parenthood, that perform or promote the taking of innocent human life.
I am a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment and will fight tirelessly to protect our right to self-defense. Criminals will always be able to get their hands on guns, but the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. That’s why I will never support any legislation that harms a law-abiding American’s ability to protect themselves and their family.
I support legal immigration and legal immigration only. There should be no scenario in which you can walk across the border and be protected by a sanctuary city yet have to wait five and a half years to become a legal citizen. The system is broken. Every day our porous border is allowing drugs, violence, and crime to enter our country. We must ban sanctuary cities, continue building the border wall that Trump started, and protect our ICE and Border Patrol officers.
Under President Trump, our country was thriving, but now President Biden has crippled our economy. Out-of-control inflation and supply chain issues impact our everyday lives, and small businesses are left with no other option but to shut their doors indefinitely. To reverse the damage we must lower taxes, cut regulations, and encourage our businesses to produce on American soil.[4] |
” |
| —Ryan Walters’s campaign website (2022)[5] | ||
Noteworthy events
Office of Management and Enterprise Services probe (2025)
On July 25, 2025, Oklahoma State Senate President Lonnie Paxton announced that the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) was leading an inquiry into Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, following allegations from Oklahoma State Board of Education members Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson that images of naked women were visible on a television in Walters' office during a July 24 board session.[6]
"The accounts made public by board members paint a strange, unsettling scene that demands clarity and transparency," Paxton said in a statement. "Senator Pugh and I appreciate the quick action by OMES to help coordinate through this situation to get details on exactly what happened. More transparency is essential before strong conclusions can be drawn."[6][7]
On August 5, 2025, Oklahoma House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said in a news release that Walters had a Samsung TV installed in his office that automatically displays the Samsung TV Plus Channel 1204 when powered on. In response to government outreach, Samsung reported that the films The Foreigner and The Protector were airing on Channel 1204 during the time of the reported incident, both of which contain explicit scenes, Hilbert said.[8]
"In my opinion, the most plausible explanation for what occurred that day is that the television, which had only been in the superintendent’s office for fewer than two months, automatically launched Samsung’s free streaming service and began playing a film that contained explicit content, without anyone in the room realizing it at the time," Hilbert said. "This information seems to vindicate both the state superintendent as well as the two board members."[8]
2025 ethics investigations
On January 17, 2025, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission announced it would investigate Walters for allegedly violating state ethics rules by using a social media account with his official title to support Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election.[9] On March 13, Walters settled with the commission. Per the settlement agreement, Walters agreed to pay $4,000 to Oklahoma’s general fund as a civil penalty and $1,000 in legal fees to the commission. Additionally, the commission said that there was no evidence that Walters knowingly intended to violate ethics rules.[10]
On March 13, 2025, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission announced it would pursue in district court an ethics complaint against Walters regarding alleged violations of campaign finance rules from his 2022 election committee.[11] On May 1, 2025, Walters settled with the commission. Per the settlement agreement, Walters agreed to pay $14,300 to Oklahoma’s general revenue fund as a civil penalty, $4,000 in legal fees to the commission, and to provide refunds to donors who over-contributed to his 2022 election campaign. Additionally, the commission and Walters agreed that the settlement "shall not be taken or construed to be an admission of liability."[12]
Directive regarding biblical teachings
On June 27, 2024, Walters announced that all public schools were required to include the Bible in the curriculum of grades five through twelve. Of the directive, Walters wrote, "The Bible is one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments. They will be referenced as an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like, as well as for their substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution."[13]
See also
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External links
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Candidate Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Oklahoma Voice, "Oklahoma’s polarizing education chief to formally resign Tuesday," September 29, 2025
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Ryan Walters," accessed December 6, 2022
- ↑ Ryan Walters for State Superintendent, "About Ryan," accessed December 6, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ryan Walters’s campaign website, “Issues,” accessed October 31, 2022
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Oklahoma Voice, "Probe underway after reports of nude women on Oklahoma state superintendent’s office TV," accessed July 28, 2025
- ↑ NBC News, "Sheriff's office launches probe after reports of naked women seen on official's TV at Oklahoma Board of Education meeting," accessed July 28, 2025
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Oklahoma Voice, "Oklahoma House speaker says 'bizarre accident' likely caused explicit images on Walters' TV," accessed August 7, 2025
- ↑ The Oklahoman, "Ethics Commission investigating Ryan Walters over support of Trump on social media account," accessed May 5, 2025
- ↑ The Oklahoman, "Ryan Walters used his official-looking X account to support Trump. It cost him $5K to settle ethics complaint." accessed May 5, 2025
- ↑ The Oklahoman, "Oklahoma Ethics Commission to pursue complaint against Ryan Walters," accessed May 5, 2025
- ↑ The Oklahoman, "Ryan Walters to pay $18,300 settlement to resolve fundraising accusations," accessed May 5, 2025
- ↑ The Hill, "Oklahoma state superintendent directs schools to incorporate Bible, Ten Commandments in teaching," accessed June 27, 2024
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Joy Hofmeister (D) |
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction 2023-2025 |
Succeeded by - |
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State of Oklahoma Oklahoma City (capital) |
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