Legislature Curbs Walters’ PR Blitz
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is unlikely to be able to continue his personal PR campaign at taxpayer expense.
On Thursday, the House added its endorsement to Senate Bill 1122, one of the budget bills now on Gov. Stitt’s desk awaiting his signature. The bill lays out the Education Department’s $5.9 billion budget for the year with this stipulation:
“No funds appropriated to the State Department of Education in Enrolled Senate Bill №1125 of the 2nd Session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature or under the control of the State Department of Education shall be encumbered or expended for the purpose of securing media interviews, public relations, or other public promotional purposes unless expressly required to participate in a federal grant program.”
As first reported by Oklahoma Watch in November, The Education Department requested proposals seeking a firm with at least 10 years of national media placement experience to secure a minimum of three op-eds, two speeches and 10 media bookings per month.
Walters told FOX25 (KOKH-TV) the campaign was for teacher recruitment. But an Oklahoma Watch and KOKH-TV joint investigation published March 13 showed that Vought Strategies, the only vendor to respond to the RFP, was trying to book Walters to talk about book bans, drag queens and Chinese-government-funded collegiate cultural programs.
Although the contract was not signed until March 6, Vought was working for the department months earlier. Department spokesman Dan Isett said company president Mary Vought was working under an existing contract and that the Office of Management and Enterprise Services said by email it was permissible for her to continue working until the new contract was in place. As Oklahoma Watch reported on May 24, the Education Department eventually conceded no such contract existed and OMES could not find any emails to that effect.
The PR contract includes an original proposal submitted Nov. 9 quoting $5,000 per month and a more detailed proposal dated Nov. 14 quoting $5,000 per week.
The department was also criticized for hiring Texas-based Precision Outreach for $22,500 to produce anti-teacher-union videos, then doubling down with a $50,000 contract for more work in the coming fiscal year.
The Education Department also came under fire recently for failing to apply for available federal grants the state had received previously. The budget bill addressed that as well, saying:
“The State Department of Education shall not decline, refuse participation in, or choose not to apply for any federal grant funding that had been received by the Department prior to fiscal year 2023 (hereafter FY-23) without joint approval from the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma State Senate and the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.”
Walters issued a statement calling the restrictions a political attack.
The Oklahoman reported that the House of Representatives issued a subpoena to the Education Department, which had been unresponsive to requests for information about the department’s relationship with Walters’ chief advisor, Texas resident Matt Langston. Walters responded to the subpoena saying Langston had no employment contract.
Oklahoma Watch reported last week that Langston has longtime ties to Mary Vought and Jess Fields, head of Texas-based Precision Outreach.
House Democrats, in the form of House Resolution 1052, called for a bipartisan committee to investigate Walters. As The Oklahoman reported, Republicans would have to sign on for it to happen.
More worth reading:
Education Rules go to Governor
Lawmakers did not take up the controversial set of 20 rules, meaning they will go straight to Gov. Kevin Stitt, who gets to decide whether to approve them. Stitt has yet to deny any rules from state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ administration. [Oklahoma Voice]
Legislature Overrides Five Stitt Vetoes
The Oklahoma Legislature took up six veto overrides in the final days of the session that ended Thursday, with five of them successful. [Tulsa World]
Poultry Litter Bill Breezes Through
A bill shielding the poultry industry from future lawsuits and increasing fines on farmers who are “bad actors” passed the House and Senate in the final days of the legislative session. [Oklahoma Ecology Project via Tulsa World]
On this date in 1921,a large-scale race riot broke out in Tulsa, later described as the worst incident of racial violence in American history; an estimated 150–300 African-Americans were killed.
Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
tstreuli@oklahomawatch.org
