Oklahoma Republicans Call for Impeachment Investigation into Walters

This article was originally published in Oklahoma Voice.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Several House Republicans have signed a letter asking for an investigation into “alarming” actions from state Superintendent Ryan Walters and the Oklahoma State Board of Education and asked for an inquiry into whether the “failures” justify impeachment.

Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, wrote the letter and sent it to House Speaker Charles McCall on Tuesday, along with 16 co-signing lawmakers. McBride’s office said four more lawmakers have signed the letter since he submitted it to the speaker.

The letter, which Oklahoma Voice obtained, marks the first time that public calls for an impeachment inquiry have come from within Walters’ own Republican Party. House Democrats have made similar requests since last year.

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Walters said the lawmakers who signed the letter are “liberal Republicans” who have “joined the far-left Democrats to try to thwart the will of Oklahoma voters.”

“Their calls are baseless and have no merit,” Walters said in a statement. “They reek of political desperation from those who are failing in their misguided attempts to stop the positive education reforms that parents and voters have demanded from their elected leaders.”

McCall said he would not consider the letter’s request until 51 or more Republicans sign it, according to a response he sent to his caucus.

He said criminal investigations should be handled by the Attorney General’s Office, not the Legislature, and the financial concerns listed in the letter could be answered in public budgetary meetings with officials from the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

“I take elections very seriously, and anyone who was duly elected by the people of this state should not be removed from that office, given to them by the people unless absolutely required by the Constitution,” McCall said.

He said previously his chamber wouldn’t initiate impeachment proceedings against Walters unless “somebody puts forth an allegation of something criminal (in) nature.”

Many of the co-signers, like McBride, sit on education-related committees, including the Common Education Committee leader Rep. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, and the committee’s vice chair, Rep. Mark Vancuren, R-Owasso.

McBride, who has long been an outspoken critic of Walters, listed six concerns that arose since the 2024 Legislative Session ended on May 30.

First on the list is the state Board of Education’s refusal to allow lawmakers to attend the board’s executive session meetings . State law grants permission to legislators who sit on related committees to attend a board’s closed-door executive sessions, which are kept private from the rest of the public.

Multiple lawmakers have said in recent months they were blocked from attending the private meetings.

McBride also cited a lack of responsiveness from Walters’ administration to lawmakers’ requests for information and to open records requests from the public. The education funding committee leader also referenced a “failure to comply” with the Legislature’s budgetary directives on school security funds and funding for childrens’ asthma inhalers.

The variety of complaints add up to a “pattern of overreach, disregard for legislative oversight and policy making, and lack of concern for student safety and budgetary stability,” McBride wrote.

The letter calls for a special investigative committee on the state Department of Education. The committee’s responsibility would be to investigate “internal and external failures” to follow the law by Walters and the state Board of Education.

It also would look into whether those failures amount to willful neglect of duty or incompetency, which the Oklahoma Constitution says are grounds for impeachment.

“It saddens me that I must make such a request of you,” McBride wrote to the speaker. “However, I believe that all other remedies have been exhausted. I hear daily from constituents from my district and taxpayers from across the state pleading for this body to take action and hold the superintendent and the state Board of Education accountable for their rogue behavior.”

The House speaker would have to agree to create such a committee. McCall will be in office until he is term-limited in November.

The House is responsible for drawing up articles of impeachment and presenting the case to the Senate, which would act as a “court of impeachment,” according to the state Constitution.

House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said her caucus has made five unheeded calls for impeachment proceedings against Walters. She said on Tuesday she is glad members of the Republican supermajority are now on board.

“Republicans hold the power in both legislative chambers and the Governor’s mansion,” Munson said. “It is time for them to use their power to hold the state superintendent accountable to the people of Oklahoma. We have all waited long enough.”

Vocal discontent from Republican lawmakers escalated this week, even among those who didn’t sign McBride’s letter.

The next House speaker who will succeed McCall, Rep. Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, echoed other lawmakers’ objections to the Education Department’s untimely responses and refusals to allow legislators into executive sessions.

Hilbert did not sign the letter requesting an investigation. Instead, he issued a statement Tuesday urging the rhetoric toward educators to “not only be toned down, but reversed.”

“This past week my daughter started kindergarten in a public school where I know she is loved and supported by phenomenal teachers and support staff,” Hilbert said. “School districts across the state are back to school but instead of talking about the excitement of a new year, we are discussing these issues due to the statements being put out by (the state Education Department).”

Two of the lawmakers who signed the letter, Rep. Ty Burns, R-Pawnee, and Rep. Josh West, R-Grove, also voiced frustration over Walters’ “disparaging comments” about the superintendent of Bixby Public Schools.

Burns and West joined Rep. Chris Banning, R-Bixby, in a statement Monday defending Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller, a former marine. The three lawmakers also are military veterans.

Miller had complained the state Education Department has been slow to provide estimates for Oklahoma schools’ annual Title I funding. Walters responded by calling Miller a “liar and a clown.”

Burns, West and Banning said the name-calling is “unbecoming of any leader, especially the highest-ranking person in the Oklahoma public school system.”

“As elected officials, paid with taxpayer dollars and entrusted with the future of our state, we must hold ourselves accountable to Oklahomans and have the integrity to admit when we are wrong,” they wrote. “We had hoped Walters would eventually grow into his role, but after two years of problematic leadership tactics, our patience is wearing thin.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect additional lawmakers who signed McBride’s letter after initial publication and responses from McCall, Walters and Hilbert.

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com . Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and X .