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In Bizarre Twist, OSDE Board Members Accuse State Super Of Character Assassination After Assassinating Character Of State Super

Oklahoma State Of Education Board Member Reputations

From the Daily Oklahoman (8.7.25), “What we saw on TV is content that would get the certificate of any teacher in this state revoked had it showed up on a classroom TV,” they said. “Now we have to ask the question: Why did Superintendent Walters lie about the TV being connected to the internet and what he saw on the TV that day? He repeatedly called the board members liars and attempted to destroy our reputation.”

This comment was apparently released by Governor Kevin Stitt-appointed, Oklahoma State of Education Board members, Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage, though I couldn’t find an associated press release, just the comment in the DO article linked above. Not that it would matter. I find the statement so absolutely ridiculous, unserious and “pot calling the kettle black“, that it matters not where it was actually published.

Since “Nudigate” – as Katy Smith (V1SUT) and I named it in a live special last week – became primetime MSM fodder, it has gone from the ridiculous to the more ridiculous, from shrieking and pearl clutching to shrieking and character assassination.

Two of the best of several Oklahoma independent media blogs have covered this story – from Ramblings Of A Domesticated Warrior (An Emmy-Worthy, Box Office Bombshell: The Scandal That Hijacked Oklahoma) to the Oklahoma State Capitol (Hulkamania and the State Board of Education’s Porn Panic of 2025), to V1SUT in the above-linked video.

While the MSM have focused on allegations meant to steer the public into considering that our State Superintendent of Public Instruction watches porn in his office leading to the conclusion that he should therefore be removed from his office – you know, the one to which OKLAHOMA VOTERS ELECTED HIM – the Oklahoma Independent Media have been busy trying to find other reasons for board member allegations that there were naked women on the TV in Walters’ office.

Tuesday, August 5th, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kyle Hilbert, came forward with a conclusion to his investigation – “When initially powered on, the television displayed Samsung TV Plus Channel 1204 (Movie Hub Action).” On Samsung Plus at the time was a Jackie Chan movie from the 1980’s that had significant frontal nudity in the American release.

So, amazingly, this explanation not only vindicates Superintendent Walters, but the OSBE members as well. This is an odd situation, but probably the only plausible one. Yes, the members saw naked women, but no, Walters had no hand in the debacle.

Now, let’s go on to this one question that remains – WHY ON EARTH WASN’T ANY OF THIS HANDLED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS? Why did Becky Carson IMMEDIATELY run to the media in hysterics? Why would Ryan Deatheridge join in the fun?

Obviously only those Board members would know, obviously, but we can certainly generate some thoughts and ideas based on recent history:

  1. Governor Stitt fires three OSDE Board members over a political perspective – the Board members had listened to a presentation from the Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent who said that they were struggling because it was becoming extremely difficult to educate non-English speaking students. Though the state is required to collect data on illegal students, when the three members of the Board broached the idea of collecting data on these students, Governor Stitt fired them. (By the way, has anyone ever wondered why Zach Archer and Sarah LePak are never there during controversial happens with the Board? Who are these people to Kevin Stitt? It might be worth reading to find out.)
  2. This action generates a rift in the formerly finish-each-other’s-sentences-bromance of Stitt and Walters. Now, suddenly, Stitt seems to actually have it out for Walters – a situation so noticeable, News9 did a complete timeline of the fallout.
  3. Governor Stitt appoints two of three members to replace the three fired, including attorney-husband of local education union POE head, Ginger Tinney and Chris VanDenhend – both of whom have CLASSIC conflicts of interest that are just brushed under the rug by the Oklahoma Senate Education Committee during their confirmation. Watch, State School Board Conflicts Of Interest – Does Anyone Even Care about Tinney and Breaking News! Why Chris Vandenhende Should NOT Be Appointed To The State Board of Ed.
  4. Becky Carson is appointed with little fanfare – more on her here – yet, suddenly, she is all over the MSM 24/7.

Now. Let’s posit some more;

  1. If you were a board member on good terms with your Chair, would you run screaming to the media bout something odd and concerning that happened before an Executive meeting being held in the office of the Chair, or would you go to the Board and to the Chair to discuss it and possibly have it investigated?
  2. What does it buy a Board member to run screaming to the media about something odd and concerning that happened before an Executive meeting being held in the office of the Chair instead of discussing it and possibly having it investigated?
  3. Yes, Walters did call the Board members liars. Hmmm…this is just me, but, if I was accused of doing something societally gross (even today we frown on public servants watching porn at work) that I didn’t do and I had a family with children who can be exposed to the media – which was spewing it all over every channel night and day – and a spouse I loved who I didn’t want embarrassed by an untrue allegation, YEAH I MIGHT GET A BIT HACKED OFF and even accuse people of lying when I know the allegations being made against me weren’t true. Especially if I’d been under fire from the Left from the beginning of my term.
  4. What have the Left in Oklahoma done to Walters since HIS ELECTION BY THE PEOPLE? Hint: check out the screenshots below and anything by local hater of everything conservative, Sean Cummings.
Oklahoma Democrat, Representative Jacob Rosecrants insults Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters in a cartoon.
A graphic expressing strong opposition to Ryan Walters as State Superintendent, featuring text that reads: 'I AM A PUBLIC SCHOOL ADVOCATE AND A LIFELONG SOONER FAN & I’D VOTE FOR EFFING LINCOLN RILEY BEFORE I VOTED FOR RYAN WALTERS FOR STATE SUPERINTENDENT', with a pennant icon in the corner.

So now, let’s recap: several members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education appointed by Governor Kevin Stitt – in the middle of a public feud with the State Super – see something on a television that was inappropriate and – instead of reporting the incident to the rest of the Board and/or others privately – go screaming to the MSM. The Board members ACCUSE the state Superintendent of watching porn in his office supported by tax payers. The Governor stays silent on the matter. The Super gets justifiably angry about the accusations and accuse the Board members of lying. NO ONE WINS, but the Left goes nuts with the entire story and uses it as justification for a rally to try and impeach a seated official who has been shown to have done nothing wrong, but was the victim of a bizarre electronic mistake.

Look, I’m not a Walters sycophant. I’ve been on his case – especially about vouchers for private schools – more than anyone who brands themselves Republican. If I thought – for one minute – that Walters was doing something he shouldn’t have been doing, do you think that wouldn’t have been a big blow up on this blog and on the podcast? It sure as shootin’ would’ve.

This is all political theater of the highest heights. It’s political nonsense that’s actually hurt a family for no reason other than politics and that hacks me off. I don’t care if you don’t like conservative politics, that dislike is not a reason to hurt someone else with impunity and then have the unmitigated GALL to turn around and say you’ve been hurt.

Becky Carson and Ryan Deatheridge are the absolute worst of the worst of appointed officials in Oklahoma right now and they should be released from the Oklahoma State School Board ASAP, with VanDenhende and Tinney not be far behind – if for no other reason than their OBVIOUS conflicts of interest not reported by any other media than ROPE Report and other Oklahoma IMs. I’m sick to my stomach about the political drama created by Governor Stitt through his appointments to this Board and the fact that absolutely NONE OF THIS HELPS OKLAHOMA KIDS in any way – which, by the way, Superintendent Walters and the previous board were actually doing by removing sexual predators from our public schools system.

So then, could this be what all of this is about in the first place? Could Governor Stitt and the rest of this Board object to removing sexual predators from our kids? Anyone with a brain has to wonder.

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Oklahoma Private Schools To Answer To The Feds? New OSDE Rules Appear To Say Just That.

Jenni White

Today I’ve been going through the NUMEROUS new rules that have been uploaded to the Oklahoma State Department of Education website in the last week. 

Midway down the page I found this:

Subchapter 17.  Federal Programs complaint procedures
210:10-17-1. Complaint Procedures [AMENDED]

Text of proposed rule
Rule Impact Statement

This is HUGE. 

You can click on the link above to bring up the changes to the rule. Remember, that rules are like legislation. Sentences that have been stricken with a line through them are going away and new sentences being added to the rule are underlined.

Note that most of the rule changes here appear to be simple ones made to the procedure for filing a complaint based on the Federal Title (rule) structure.  Our OSDE accepts federal funds for things like Title 1 programming that allows children to be fed at school on the public tax dollar – and much more.  I’ve written much about federal education law and how it takes away local control from parents on many fronts, one only has to search our previous blog linked in the right sidebar. 

If a public school parent believes their child is not getting services required by federal funding – such as that required for disabled children – they can file a complaint with the state and with the federal government. This rule above was originally written to make provisions for how to file such complaints.

What is HUGE is this: Under (b) covered programs, all the existing categories are revoked and new ones placed.  NEVER was this listed under covered programs previously, making it an entirely new category – (12) Part F, section 7881 of Title VIII (Participation by Private School Children and Teachers). 

WHAT?  Haven’t we heard Superintendent Walters say numerous times that he wanted to get away from taking federal funds?  In fact, in November of last year, here he is saying that he wouldn’t take federal funds that run counter to “Oklahoma values”. 

So, is it an Oklahoma value for an Oklahoma PRIVATE SCHOOL TO ANSWER TO THE FEDS?

What’s going on?  According to this rule, the OSDE must plan to take and disperse federal funds to private schools.  Why would there be a specific rule added so that private school-associated families can complain about private schools not following federal dictates if that weren’t the case? 

Unfortunately, this could make sense considering the Oklahoma Parental Tax Credit, because state tax dollars are going to pay tuition at private schools.  It’s NOT taxpayers getting their money back (in the vast majority of cases) these are public dollars going to enroll Oklahoma (hopefully) kids in private schools. 

Consequently, if public money is going to the private school, the private school would then fall under Federal education Title jurisdiction like a public school – especially if they choose to ask the OSDE to provide them federal funds.

And what’s great about Private schools getting public funds?  Here’s a screenshot from the Federal Department of Education Title regulations page.

So, while Ryan Walters wants to change OSDE rules to make sure prayer is acceptable in public schools, he apparently also accepts the plan to provide private schools with federal dollars, making them secular, neutral and nonideological in the process. So what is the point of having private (religious) schools then? 

I hope we will hear from the OSDE and Secretary Walters on this issue and somehow I will be proven completely wrong.  Until then, however, I think Oklahomans can only see this as an assault on the independence of our Private schools being allowed by our state through our Oklahoma State Department of Education.

FYI: A public hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, in Room 1-20 (State Board Room) at the Oliver Hodge Building, 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard, in Oklahoma City for the following rules. Also, you can write rules@sde.ok.gov to let them know what you think of the rule.

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Ryan Walters’ Video Shows Parents The Truth About The Education Establishment, Which Makes Them Mad – And That Makes Us Happy

To be clear, ROPE has not agreed with Ryan Walters on the concept of “School Choice” at all in any way – and this is a big thing because it limits the power of parents to care for and educate their children. HOWEVER, we agree with him on just about everything else he’s waded into in a big way. Especially his absolute fearlessness in calling out LEFTY teachers/administration/unions wherever they are.

For years, as ROPE attempted to STOP Common Core, or help create non-Common Core educational standards or complained about teacher walkouts – we’ve been absolutely ASSAULTED and DEMONIZED on social media by the Leftist teaching cabal in Oklahoma which is alive and well and going by the hashtag #oklaed. This hashtag encompasses many groups, but a few are Oklahoma Edvocates, Oklahomans for Public Education, Oklahoma State School Boards Association, OEA and Pastors For Oklahoma Kids. I’m not giving any links here, but all you need to do is get on Twitter and follow that hashtag to see the people who run education in Oklahoma and what they’re all about. They don’t suffer fools – and that category encompasses ANY Republican (other than Democrats in Republican suits), ROPE and Ryan Walters specifically.

#oklaed are not for parents, they are for schools. They are not for transparency, they are for money. They are not for equality, they are for power. They are everything we need to extricate from Oklahoma educational facilities – partisan, tone-deaf, angry, name-calling, social justice warriors who hide behind the “but it’s for children” mantra as a way to push their lefty agendas.

In fact, Jami Cole – the Duncan 5th grade teacher who runs the Oklahoma Edvocates organization – has blocked our ROPE account on Twitter. Why? Who knows for sure, but I re-tweeted an ‘incendiary’ tweet in which she says that people who push vouchers are Christian Nationalists. Okay, well, ROPE hates vouchers, but we ARE a group of Christian men and women and leftists have coined the term “Christian Nationalist” as a way to shush Christians – much like they coined the term “insurrectionist” to shut down Trump supporters – so I see that as a problem.

But it’s not just that. Cole goes on to tell voters to switch parties in order to vote for Hoffmeister and Nelson for Governor and State Superintendent. Fascinating. Why she didn’t want me to retweet the idea she clearly seems proud of – who knows?

Jump to yesterday, May 25th. The Oklahoman – in an article which lists no author – published, “Ryan Walters launches ‘incendiary’ video denouncing teachers unions“. Inside the article – which is only available for subscribers – is the video they label ‘incendiary’. It’s on the front page of the OSDE website too – though the Oklahoman article says it was uploaded to YouTube and then taken down – implying someone didn’t want it up.

The video uploaded with the Oklahoman story includes interviews with both Jami Cole (wearing her Oklahoma Edvocates shirt) and Erika Wright (founder of another Oklahoma left-of-center organization called the Rural Schools Coalition). Erika Wright is apparently familiar with the definition of ‘incendiary’ as her quote for the story was that the video would, “get teachers killed” and that Walters “needs to be impeached”.

Teacher’s unions are not for kids – they’re for teachers and social change. If you use a search engine OTHER than Google, you could simply search “NEA” and find out stuff that would make the eyes of most parents bleed.

THAT’S why #oklaed is so angry about this video – IT SHOWS HOW OUT OF TOUCH WITH AMERICAN PARENTS, TEACHER’S UNIONS and their supporters – ARE.

It shows that there ARE pornographic books being pushed into public schools, it shows that teachers DO want to subvert parental rights when it comes to gender issues – in fact it shows unequivocally the obvious agenda to push gender issues on KIDS, period. That’s why the Oklahoman published it without ANY OTHER VOICES beyond those they wanted to hear commenting about the video.

George Keiser-supported Oklahoma Watch did the same thing with the Jennifer Palmer-penned “Superintendent Ryan Walters’ Video Escalates Attacks on Teacher Unions”

So here’s the deal – QUIT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE NEWS MEDIA. Watch the video for yourself. If you don’t believe what’s on the video, research the topics for yourself. Ryan is right here. Teacher’s unions are not the friend of parents or kids and in fact, I believe they actually seek to harm children in the long run because that’s what Marxists do – ruin families.

Also, while we’re at it, research your kid’s teachers. Find out who they are and what they could be telling your children when you are not around. Many are simply good people trying to do a job today that is ridiculously tough by any standard, many think they are doing the right thing by being their student’s friends and removing parents from the parental equation, some are simply predators and we know this from the constant news stories about teachers who have sexually preyed on their charges.

We do not live in your parents world. Wake up. Do your research. And for God sakes pray for our State Superintendent. He wears a heavy yoke standing against this dark agenda and for parents and kids.

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The Empress (Joy Hofmeister) Has No Clothes

Guest Post by Don Krumme, Stop Common Core in Oklahoma

Around 10 years ago, Bill Gates and other liberal and conservative elites, Corporate America, and Federal and Local elected officials, began to implement an educational scheme known as “Common Core”, whose goal was to radically indoctrinate our children by lowering expectations, dumb down education, even the playing field for all, and create a class of workers that couldn’t think for themselves. In essence, it was ObamaCare for Education and we knew it. 

Many of us from all walks of life across the USA banded together to expose Common Core for what it was, and formed a formidable nationwide coalition. @Retain Oklahoma Parental Empowerment and @Stop Common Core in Oklahoma joined in to spread the word on Facebook. 

In 2013 Oklahoma State School Superintendent Janet Baressi came up for re-election, and Joy Hofmeister challenged her. Not fond of Baressi, many of us got behind Hofmeister after she reassured us that she would not support Common Core.  This was a big mistake.

Naturally, this all changed during the fight for new, non-Common Core, state standards when we were deceived by Hofmeister so they could usher in shiny new “non-Common Core” Common Core standards, leaving us once again to fight our State Superintendent. 

We learned then and there what an expert manipulator she was, and she had a real knack for twisting the facts. We were there. Do not fall for her story. She will not help our state in any form or fashion. DO NOT vote for Joy Hofmeister.

The Empress has no clothes.

For more information:

Lies and Truths About ROPE and the Oklahoma Academic Standards

Oklahoma State Board of Education Approves Final Draft of New (Non-Common Core) Educational Standards

Repealing Common Core Means Nothing If Oklahoma’s New Academic Standards Are Not Better than Common Core

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The Corruption Belt: SPECIAL ELECTION STEAL ALERT: UNKNOWN Group Runs Ads Against Candidates Opposing Fount Holland (CAMP) Clients In The August 23rd Run-Off

Conservative Policy Network is yet another group in a long line of groups which is using money from who knows where (Dark Money) to influence Oklahoma elections.

As I’ve written about in previous blogs on Dark Money, campaign consultant Fount Holland was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit a felony for breaking Oklahoma campaign laws.  At the time, Mr. Holland was running Joy Hofmeister’s campaign for State Superintendent against former SS Janet Baressi.  He was charged because it was found that he – and Mrs. Hofmeister – were working with an independent PAC to help get her elected.

FYI:  Any candidate running for office can accept donations of up to $2900 a person or $3800 per couple per each election cycle (a primary, a runoff, a general).  Think on this: that’s over $11,000.00 a couple could give a candidate during an entire election campaign.  That’s not an insignificant amount.   

Still and all, there are people who want to help candidates get elected by contributing more than what’s legal through a campaign account.  They do this by creating an “unlimited” PAC.  The PAC raises money, but doesn’t have to show where that money comes from (which is why it’s called DARK money) and then spends what they raise to help elect a candidate.  THIS IS IMPORTANT:  It is illegal for a candidate – or their campaign manager – to work with anyone associated with an unlimited PAC using money to help the candidate get elected.  They are called Independent Expenditures because the group is working to elect the candidate INDPENDENTLY of the candidate’s campaign.

Candidates have a campaign account that can be searched on the Oklahoma Ethics Commission website.  This transparency allows citizens to be able to see who is donating to that candidate.  

501c4’s only have to record WHERE and HOW their money was spent, not where it comes from.  This keeps voters in the dark about who might be influencing candidates.  Often, Dark Money IE’s are funded through an intricate web of non-profit 501c4’s and PACs which make it very hard to determine anyone associated with a group spending money on behalf of a candidate.

This set of mailers was received today.  Look more closely at the address box:

Note that it says, “Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee”.  This means it’s an Independent Expenditure and it’s NOT LEGAL for a candidate or their campaign manager to be associated with the group paying for the mailer – in this case, “Conservative Policy Network”.

I wanted to know where this mailer came from, so I went to the Oklahoma Ethics website and searched for Conservative Policy Network.  I found the Ethics report at the top of the page.  Please note; it says it is an IE OPPOSING Brady Butler, Jarrin Jackson and Karmin Grider.

The address for the group is here:

Legitimate IE groups in Oklahoma are required to have an address to the business or group supporting the IE.  This is NOT a legal address for an Independent Expenditure in Oklahoma.  

I called the phone number associated with the group and it picks up immediately and says, “The person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable.  Please leave a message.”  (This happens with EVERY organization without a legitimate address I’ve tried.)  

Additionally, I was not able to find an associated Federal PAC, nor an associated 501c4, nor any other information at all about this group created on the 22nd of July – not even a month ago.

Who is running against the candidates being opposed by this group?  Brady Butler is running against CAMP (Fount Holland) client Darcy Jech, Jarrin Jackson is running against CAMP client Ally Seifried and Karmin Grider is running against CAMP client Collin Duel.  Odd coincidence?  Doubtful.

In a few days, I’ll be releasing a diagram of how money is flowing from 501c4 organizations and specific PACs in Oklahoma during this election year.  You’ll note at that time, that the filing agent listed on this Ethics Report is one often used by PACs/Groups associated with Fount Holland candidates or paying CAMP for work on campaigns.

DARK MONEY ADS LIKE THE ONE AGAINST KARMIN, CAN URGE VOTERS TO VOTE BASED ON LIES AND HALF-TRUTHS PAID FOR BY PEOPLE WHO WANT TO INFLUENCE ELECTIONS WITHOUT BEING KNOWN! 

DON’T MAKE AN UNEDUCATED VOTE!!

Talk to candidates directly.  Most all have websites and even phone numbers where they can be reached.  Educate yourself before you mark your ballot, don’t be misled by FAKE groups using DARK money to influence you!

Jenni White, Education Director

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More Reasons We Support Dr. John Cox

In case you’ve not seen our Facebook posts with further explanations as to why ROPE has chosen to support Dr. John Cox for Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, I’m going to paste them into the blog where you can share them with all your smart friends who are NOT on social media!

From June 7th:

A story about Dr. John Cox and why history is important: (update at bottom)

Back in 2012 (or so), the Carter County Republicans asked me (and ROPE) to do a presentation for them about why we needed to fight Common Core. They had the meeting at a hotel near I-35. After speaking, Julia Seay and I and a few others went to Two Frogs down the road to have dinner. Dr. Cox had been to another of our presentations previously and came to dinner with the group that night.

Julia and I both wondered why on earth a Democrat was so interested in fighting Common Core, so, we grilled him – beginning with abortion. He shocked us. He said he was 100% pro life. We asked him about gun ownership and he was 100% pro-second amendment.

As we got further into our discussions, Julia and I both started laughing. Julia actually told him something like, “You’re more Republican than many Republicans we know!” He explained that he’d been brought up as a Democrat and where he lived, there weren’t any Republicans to vote for anyway. If he wasn’t a Democrat he couldn’t vote except in a general election, where he traditionally voted for Republicans.

During the Common Core fight, John consistently showed up to do what he could to push back against an initiative he knew would tie his hands as an administrator and dumb down learning for his students – WHEN FEW OTHER SUPERINTENDENTS – REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS – ANYWHERE IN OKLAHOMA DID.

Today we know that ROPE, Dr. Cox and all those who fought so hard against Common Core and federal intervention into state public education systems WERE 100% RIGHT about everything we said would happen with implementation of CC.

Since coming out with our endorsement of Dr. Cox yesterday, we have been lambasted and castigated by a prominent Christian once-supporter and had subscribers drop our email newsletter. This is all fine, as ROPE will fight to the death to allow people to express their opinions, but it is UNBELIEVABLY hurtful and frustrating.

To think – after all these years – that ROPE (or me) would support someone who supports policies I/we HAVE NEVER SUPPORTED is nonsensical. Why on earth would someone look at a label before taking the word of others who may know more about the person than they themselves – or even better – INTERVIEWING THE PERSON THEMSELVES?

Ronald Reagan was a Democrat. TRUMP was once a Democrat. One of the – hands down – most courageous, competent public servants we have in office – Cindy Byrd – was a Democrat and WE SUPPORT CINDY BYRD TOO!

I know that the devil has been seeding distrust since the beginning of time. I know he is the Father of Confusion and Lies. I know Conservatives have been through the ringer lately and trust is hard.

HOWEVER, allowing ourselves to tread water in a sea of emotion, where we all get spooled up in the back-stabbing, intrigue of ‘politics’ to make us feel as though we’re ‘doing’ something – we need to STOP AND THINK – and use discernment and reason to chart our course.

I’m not saying ANY man is perfect – only Jesus gets that label among humanity. All I’m saying is, the more we use emotion over reason and the more we desire to fight with one another, the faster we lose any chance of gaining the ground we’ve lost to the Communists – who are our REAL ENEMY and threat to individual liberty.

**I’m also going to add here – ROPE is not funded by anyone. We tried to be a PAC but it didn’t work. We have always supported this group on gas donations and out of our own pocketbooks. We don’t owe allegiance to anyone or any group. About what other advocacy group can you say that?

And from my personal Facebook page June 9th:

Yesterday, a person tagged me in a post that said they didn’t understand our stand for Dr. Cox because he has ‘never stood for parents’.

Here is the truth: Dr. Cox STOOD WITH PARENTS AGAINST COMMON CORE when only one or two other Superintendents did. But even that isn’t the issue here.

While Dr. Cox was labeled a Democrat, he STOOD WITH PARENTS against a FEDERAL TAKEOVER OF EDUCATION.

Here is the list of REPUBLICANS who stood AGAINST PARENTS and FOR FEDERAL EDUCATION: Former State Superintendent Janet Barresi, former governor Mary Fallin, former Senator Clark Jolley (who is running for state Treasurer and who wrote the bill to insert Common Core AND OTHER OBAMA EDUCATION INITIATIVES – into our state) and the state Chamber. Oklahoma Council For Public Affairs (OCPA) NEVER GOT INTO THE FIGHT FOR PARENTS AT ALL ON THIS ISSUE.

Who was right about Common Core? #ROPEWASRIGHT all it takes is a bit of internet search to find all the studies indicating just that.

As I’ve said before HISTORY IS IMPORTANT and if you choose to overlook it, you do so at your own peril.

In the end, who knows what Dr. Cox will do if elected – we can only go on our past experience with the man and the things he’s committed to us and the public. Obviously, Dr. Cox is human – as are we all.

We continue to remain friendly with Secretary Walters, but I did tell him, when I called to inform him of our endorsement, that one of the gravest concerns we have about his candidacy, other than his desire to see vouchers implemented statewide, is all the people with whom he associates.

In fact, his associates – all on ECKO’s Board of Directors – include former Policy Director for Mary Fallin, (Jake Yunker) – who, with former Secretary of Education Janet Baressi fought the repeal of Common Core – former Representative Lee Denney who fought against the repeal of Common Core and Jennifer Monies, who has worked extensively with the State Chamber who fought Common Core. This election cycle, Secretary Walters has had fundraisers thrown for him by both Jeb Bush – a Common Core and school choice proponent – and Betsy DeVos whose family runs the American Federation for Children 501(c)(4) and PAC; the (c)(4) of which reported 8 million dollars in revenues in 2019. Those names don’t inspire the idea of ‘parental rights’ to us, but the top-down, administrative, big government solutions of which we need to rid Oklahoma, not double-down.

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ROPE Endorses Dr. John Cox for State Superintendent

Every election since 2010, ROPE has announced support for a State Superintendent candidate.  We believe this position to be of paramount importance in the direction of education in our state.  This year is no different.

Four Republican candidates are vying for the State Superintendent’s chair:  Bill Crozier, April Grace, Dr. John Cox and Secretary of Education Ryan Walters.  ROPE held a candidate forum at Randall University on May 9th.  Mr. Crozier was unable to attend and April Grace backed out of her original commitment to appear.

WHY ROPE DOES NOT SUPPORT DR. APRIL GRACE

April Grace, Superintendent of Shawnee Public Schools, is under fire for allowing an alleged sexual predator to stay on the SPS staff.  In addition, her ethics filings find that her campaign is supported by American Fidelity Corp PAC, CCOSA administration, Former State Board Member Leo Baxter and Mid-Del Superintendent Rick Cobb, to name a few.  These are EXTREMELY concerning. 

Let’s not forget that American Fidelity, CCOSA and others were accused of conspiring with current Superintendent Joy Hoffmeister on a dark money PAC for her initial election.  Baxter and other State School Board members sued to stop the repeal of Common Core and, during the Oklahoma Standards re-write, spent significant time online lobbing verbal fireballs at any of us who dared to review the standards negatively.  In fact, there was an entire group of educators – including Rick Cobb – who fought any criticism of the standards during the re-write.  Anyone supported by a group of people so dedicated to the status quo and so hateful to others, need not be elected to statewide office.

BILL CROZIER

Bill is a very nice man – and a very interesting person – but, unfortunately, ROPE did not see him as a viable candidate in this race.

OUR TOP TWO CANDIDATES – Secretary Walters and Dr. Cox – WHY WE ENDORSED DR. COX

The ROPE Board interviewed both Secretary Ryan Walters and Dr. John Cox  several weeks after our Superintendent Forum.  They were very kind to take time with us – Dr. Cox via internet and Secretary Walters in person.

From our interviews and Superintendent’s forum, it’s abundantly clear both candidates love kids and are committed to pushing back against the educational status quo that so often inhibits parents from educating their children the way they see fit, but there are some divisions. 

ROPE has numerous concerns about the expansion of a voucher system in our state and fought vigorously to defeat SB1647 (2022) – the bill creating a voucher system for private schools.  Dr. Cox does not agree with implementation of a voucher system in Oklahoma.  Secretary Walters does.    

Though we also agree with Secretary Walters on many policy issues, he does not yet have the experience Dr. Cox has accumulated.  As Superintendent of Pegs School district for 28 years, Dr. Cox understands the difficulties imposed on educators – and superintendents – by unwieldy and burdensome state laws and federal programming, many of which negatively impact parental rights.

Recently, Dr. Cox stood up for the innocence of his students by telling a health official he would only give the CDC’s incredibly invasive, Youth Risk Behavioral Survey if he could send it home for parents to read.  He never received a return phone call asking the survey be administered.

History also plays a part.  Many of our Board remember Dr. Cox standing in solidarity with us and parents against Common Core – one of very few Superintendents who did.  We have witnessed him standing with parents and expect him to continue to do so. 

We appreciate Secretary Walters very much for running and we hope – no matter who wins the State Superintendent Chair – to work with both candidates in whatever capacity they find themselves.

Jenni White, ROPE President

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