Ryan Walters, the MAGA-cheerleading state superintendent of Oklahoma, is known for his "attention-thirsty troll tactics," noted Molly Olmstead for Slate — forcing schools to purchase Trump-endorsed "God Bless The USA Bibles" and even ordering teachers to inform kids of conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was rigged, allegedly without the full consent of state officials.
But now he has come up with a new stunt: forcing teachers who move from blue states to effectively swear loyalty to a suite of MAGA beliefs outlined by PragerU.
"Under this plan, teachers from states with 'progressive education policies' would be tested on the U.S. Constitution, American exceptionalism, and 'the fundamental biological differences between boys and girls,'" wrote Olmstead. "The screening is guaranteed to test teachers for a deeply MAGA-inflected understanding of U.S. history, government, and society: PragerU, a right-wing group with a stated mission of countering leftism in education, is already known for its white nationalist-adjacent content for schoolchildren."
Walters' stunts have been wildly successful at building attention for himself, Olmstead wrote. "He has become the face of the Christian nationalist campaigns into public education. A good number of Americans know the name of the school superintendent in the 28th most populous state."
However, it's unclear much of his boasted agenda is actually even being enacted, let alone improving student learning.
Per local experts, "Some of the boldest proposals to come from Walters’ office have foundered, either ensnared in legal challenges or sidestepped by school districts wary of the culture wars," wrote Olmstead. Moreover, Oklahoma officials and parents alike are reportedly exasperated with these stunts.
But Walters appears sincere in his beliefs. He "has attended a number of events with the Heritage Foundation, which has encouraged pushing boundaries and counting on the Supreme Court to back them up." And it could lay the groundwork for a Supreme Court case to allow state policy to discriminate against people from other states.
Even if Walters manages to drum up such a legal case and it goes on to set a precedent for the country, "It will not help the worsening teacher shortage in Oklahoma, where students have some of the worst test scores in the nation. Nor will it necessarily help Waltners’ gubernatorial aspirations in the state, where traditional Republicans remain wary of Walters and where he has polled well behind the state attorney general," Olmstead wrote.
Nonetheless, she concluded, it demonstrates how, "in Trump’s America, impulsive, politically isolated, and farcically combative figures can go far."
