OK Education Chief: China Secretly Funds OK Schools

The Daily Beast reports:

A Chinese-made Graco car seat is visible behind Oklahoma Superintendent for Public Instruction Ryan Walters as he sits in his vehicle, going full-out nuts in a video he would then post on X (formerly Twitter.) “Good afternoon, Oklahomans, I’ve been looking more and more into what’s going on at Tulsa Public Schools, and it’s just been unbelievable to find out that they’re one of the only schools in the country taking money from the Chinese government,” he says.

“You have communist China that is giving money to Tulsa public schools in order to try to undermine our United States government, our country,” Walters continues. “It’s unbelievable.” One reason it may be unbelievable is the fact that it does not appear to be true. “Tulsa Public Schools does not receive money from the Chinese government, as Oklahoma State Superintendent Walters has alleged without evidence,” the Tulsa Public Schools said in a statement.

Read the full article. In June, Walters appeared here when he announced that Oklahoma’s public schools will soon have a mandatory daily prayer, the mandatory posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, and a mandatory high school course in “Western civilization.”

Last month Walters declared that Oklahoma public school students will be taught that the infamous 1921 Tulsa Massacre was not inspired by racism.

Walters, who was appointed state secretary of education by openly Christianist nationalist Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2020, faced calls to resign in 2022 after it was revealed that a Koch-funded group that advocates for privatizing public schools was paying him $120,000/year.

Stitt rejected calls for Walters’ resignation and attempted to reappoint him again earlier this year, but the state Senate refused to allow him to hold the elected superintendent and appointed secretary of education posts at the same time.