'Don’t like forced': Backlash as OK superintendent vows Turning Point chapters 'in every school'
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters, Image via screengrab/X.
KOCO News5 reports Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters is getting pushback from his plan to install Turning Point USA chapters in every state high school.
"We’re going to put a Turning Point chapter in every high school in Oklahoma," said Walters after the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. "Last year, we partnered with Charlie to have Turning Point USA brought into Oklahoma high schools."
KOCO reports Nadine Gallagher, a middle school English teacher and president of the Crooked Oak Association of Classroom Teachers, expressed support for student-organized clubs but voiced concerns about outside political influence.
"I don’t have any problem with a student club, if it’s initiated by students," Gallagher said. "If a student were to pop up and say, ‘I would really love to start a club,’ then I’m all for it. If that’s what students are interested in and that’s what students need for whatever their reasons, for social or something that they need for schoolwork, but I don’t like forced anything."
Gallagher added that Oklahoma faces significant educational challenges and implied the state superintendent could better focus on providing educators the resources they need to raise test scores.
"We are 50th in public education, and, surely, there must be something else we could be worrying about in Oklahoma than about clubs for kids," Gallagher said.
Walters is the same Oklahoma superintendent who requested $3 million from state legislators to purchase more than 50,000 Bibles for classrooms. Walters’ bid requirements for the books were very specific, requiring the Bible to be leather-bound and include U.S. founding documents, which favored the "God Bless the USA" Bible marketed by President Donald Trump. The so-called “Trump Bibles,” or “God Bless the USA” Bibles, average in price between $60 and $1,000 for copies signed by the president, who receives fees for his endorsement.
Oklahoma legislators refused Walters’ funding request.
