What Ryan Walters said about the subpoena he received from the Oklahoma House -- Not much

State Superintendent Ryan Walters declined to say much Thursday about a subpoena issued to him Tuesday by the Oklahoma House.

Instead, he insisted he has “a great working relationship” with House Speaker Charles McCall, who signed the subpoena along with two Republican state representatives who lead education committees.

“I’ve talked to the speaker the last couple of days,” Walters said while speaking with media after a regularly scheduled state Board of Education meeting. “Him and I have had several conversations. Look, we’re going to continue to work together to improve Oklahoma education. We’ve got a great relationship. We’re going to continue working together to make sure that we’re doing what we can for our kids.”

Walters typically responds to questions from media after state board meetings. Given he’d issued no public statements and had done one only one Oklahoma media interview – with Tulsa television station KOKI – since the subpoena became public Tuesday, it wasn’t surprising the first three questions were about his reaction to the subpoena.

In response to the third question, Walters said, “Hey, look, I know that you all want to talk a lot about that. But I want to tell you, we did a lot of big things in the board meeting today. So, I’ve talked about (the subpoena) for the last couple of days. The speaker and I have a great relationship. We’re going to deal with the issues that have been created there, but that’s going to be between the speaker and myself. Again, I have a great working relationship with him.”

After listing some of the items on the meeting agenda, Walters said, “I’d love to focus on that and I’m happy to answer any questions about that, but I’ve dealt with the other story for the past couple of days.”

No other questions were asked about the subpoena.

The unusual subpoena Walters received was, historians have said, perhaps the first of its kind in generations issued by the House to an elected state official. McCall joined Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, and Rep. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon — leaders of House committees that oversee education — in signing the subpoena.

Walters has until 3 p.m. on Jan. 5 to comply with the subpoena. For months, McBride has consistently complained about Walters not being forthcoming with information about the Oklahoma State Department of Education, which Walters leads as superintendent.The House is asking for details about a claim by Walters during a television interview about 950 out-of-state teachers applying for Oklahoma jobs. The subpoena also asks for details about school districts that aren’t performing “at grade level” and what Walters and the agency are doing to support those districts. The House also wants information about a $2 million software purchase and how the department might be utilizing the software.

Also included is a demand for Walters to explain how he and Matt Langston, his senior advisor, have communicated with McBride. The subpoena also asks if Walters approved of Langston using letterhead stationery from Walters’ office for those communications.

During the KOKI interview, Walters had harsh words for his Republican colleagues who signed the subpoena, comparing them to the Biblical character Judas Iscariot, an apostle of Jesus Christ who betrayed Jesus and turned him over to Roman soldiers for a predetermined price.

“It’s disappointing to see some folks in my own party that have decided to sell their souls for 30 pieces of silver from the teacher’s union,” Walters said. “I’m never gonna stop and back down to those pressures. I’m gonna keep fighting for the parents of Oklahoma, for the taxpayers of Oklahoma and say, ‘Listen, your kids are too important.’ The future of the state is too important to back down to a left-wing mob.”

Without providing specifics, Walters also told the TV station that “we’ll roll out some of these numbers, but we’ve fulfilled more open-records requests than my predecessor did in a couple of years. We have been able to be very open with, “Here’s our programs, here’s the numbers around it.’ We love sitting around and holding town halls around the state. My team has gone as far as the Panhandle and Guymon, down to southeast Oklahoma, to Ardmore last week.”

One item about which Walters wanted to speak was a proposed change in the rules he said would ban the use of state funds on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in Oklahoma’s K-12 schools and eliminate what he called “sexually provocative behaviors,” including drag queen performances, by teachers and administrators.

Walters had a public dispute with Western Heights Public Schools earlier this year after it was revealed that a principal in the district performs as a drag queen.

Walters didn’t offer specifics about the proposed changes, which he said followed up on Gov. Kevin Stitt’s executive order earlier this month. That order requires state agencies and institutions of higher education in Oklahoma to initiate a review of DEI positions, departments, activities, procedures and programs to “eliminate and dismiss” what the order called “non-critical personnel.”

Any permanent rules change could take months to actually take effect, as the proposal first would have to be posted on the OSDE website and go through a public-comment period before the Board of Education could vote on it. Rules changes require approval from the board, the Legislature and the governor.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Walters offers no specifics in reaction to House subpoena he received