Reason #7 to pick Dr. Grace over Mr. Walters: The company you keep

On the bottom words are shallow
The surface talk is cheap
You can only judge the distance by the company you keep
In the eyes of the confessor

Joe Walsh, The Confessor (1985)

It’s been a while since I started a blog post with a 1980s song lyric. This one has been rolling around in my head ever since I started putting this list together. Before we get into Reason #7, though, I want to start with a quick debate recap. Tuesday night, Dr. April Grace appeared on Fox 25 to debate Ryan Walters.

Right out of the gate, we saw the contrast. The first question asked was about the biggest issue in public education at this time:

Walters: “The biggest issue facing our school system today is left-wing indoctrination…issues like critical race theory, transgenderism, and an anti-American-like curriculum.”

Grace: “We’ve got to get serious about solving the teacher shortage…getting back to focusing on early literacy for our early learners and expanding options for our high school students.”

Walters pivoted to indoctrination on every nearly answer. He even said superintendents in Oklahoma are trying to “win the woke Olympics.” No, I have no idea what that means either. If we had some kind of contest in place to perhaps give ourselves treats every time Walters said woke or indoctrination, I’d be in no condition to finish this blog post.

This is all he has. He expressed no real ideas or plans. If he has any thoughts about improving public schools in Oklahoma, he either can’t or won’t articulate them. Dr. Grace answered every question with specific examples from her experiences. Walters doesn’t understand school funding. He doesn’t understand law. He doesn’t even understand simple processes like the textbook adoption cycle. Every sentence out of his mouth sounds like it could have been written by a bot that watched 10,000 hours of propaganda.

Every educator in Oklahoma should cringe at the accusations Walters is making about the work we do. We keep our students safe. We teach the basics. We work with families. We know our communities. He shows no interest in doing this. If Ryan Walters, in his official capacity, ever wants to visit classrooms (or libraries) in my school district, I’d be happy to show him the good work we are doing for our students daily.

Dr. Grace closed by challenging Walters to make even one positive statement about something specific happening in a public school somewhere in Oklahoma. She gave several examples. He whiffed. You would think that with all the campaigning he has been able to do while ostensibly working for the state, that he would have seen something commendable. 

*****

Ok, back to the countdown. Maybe the company our candidates keep should be higher than reason #7. As I mentioned in Reason #8, most of the money backing the Ryan Walters campaign is coming from special interest groups and dark money from outside of Oklahoma. And his most vocal support comes from the same predictable crowd that has been trying to wreck public schools for decades.

Let’s start with the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA). I’m not going to link to their work. If you haven’t heard of them, I’m incredibly happy for you. If you have, you know that they call themselves a free market think tank and have spent almost three decades only supporting candidates who want to dismantle public education.

Walters has no bigger ally than Governor Stitt, who hasn’t been involved in politics for long (and wasn’t a regular voter prior to running). In all the years that I’ve been aware of OCPA, I don’t think they have agreed with a governor more completely than the current one – the one whose approval ratings are falling.

Governor Stitt appointed Walters to the position of Secretary of Education. Meanwhile, Walters also works for Every Kid Counts Oklahoma (EKCO), which has ties to the Walton Family Foundation (WFF), the supposedly philanthropic arm of the Wal-Mart empire. They have committed billions of dollars over the years to defunding public schools. It’s their signature endeavor. I’ve been writing about them on this blog since 2013, as well as their ties to the Oklahoma Public Schools Resource Center (OPSRC).

It should be noted, of course, that EKCO shares office space with OPSRC.

Walters is supported by former state superintendent Janet Barresi, who was such a disaster in her sole term in office that she finished third in her primary in 2014. Barresi’s former campaign manager and chief of staff, Jennifer Carter, works with Class Wallet and the American Federation for Children. She had a hand in helping Walters misspend federal relief funds.

Jennifer Carter, by the way, is married to Ray Carter, who used to write editorials for the Oklahoman and now does the bulk of the writing at the OCPA website. Help me out here. Is a puppet the one with all the strings or the one with the hand? Nevermind. It doesn’t matter.

Meanwhile, Dr. Grace has a broad coalition of support. Educators who don’t appreciate baseless derision are behind her. Parents who want their public schools to remain the centerpiece of their communities do too. More and more elected officials who are tired of the baseless attacks on schools are with her as well. 

I’m with the candidate who can get educators, families, and communities behind her. I’m with Dr. Grace.

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