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Oklahoma State Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters announced plans on Tuesday to establish chapters of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s right-wing organization, Turning Point USA, in every high school in his state, threatening to revoke school credentials if they don’t comply.
“Radical leftist teachers’ unions have dominated classrooms for far too long, and we are taking them back,” Walters wrote on X, announcing a partnership with the conservative activist group.
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Walters’ announcement comes after Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, took over the organization following his fatal shooting at Utah Valley University. It’s unclear if the widowed Kirk will continue to echo her husband’s thinking against immigrants, Muslims and the LGBTQ+ community or will move the organization further to the right.
“We have seen the outpouring from parents, teachers, and students that want to be engaged in a meaningful work going on at Turning Point,” Walters said. “They want their young people to be engaged in a process that understands free speech, open engagement, dialog about American greatness, a dialog around American values.”
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In an interview with local Fox affiliate KOKH-TV, he warns there will be repercussions for schools that refuse to have a Turning Point USA chapter.
“I mean, we would go after their accreditation. We would go after their certificates. So yeah, they would be in danger of not being a school district if they decided to reject a club that is here to promote civic engagement,” Walters said. “Absolutely, they would be violating the law. They would be violating the rules set forth to them by our agency. So yeah, everything would be on the table in that scenario.”
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This is not the first move Walters has made to push the Oklahoma school system to the right. Last year, he appointed Chaya Raichik, the creator of the right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok, to the state’s library media advisory board.
“Chaya is on the front lines showing the world exactly what the radical left is all about — lowering standards, porn in schools, and pushing woke indoctrination on our kids,” Walters said at the time.
The GOP school official was recently investigated by the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office after two members of the state’s board of education claimed they saw images of naked women on a TV screen in his office. No charges were filed, and Walters called the accusations a “witch hunt.”
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During his tenure, Walters pushed a more right-wing agenda for the school systems, saying he would allow ICE into public schools and mandate them to incorporate the Bible into their lesson plans for grades five through 12.
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“What we’re going to continue to do is make sure that our kids understand American greatness, engage in civic dialog and have that open discussion,” Walters said Tuesday. “We will continue to do all that we can to make sure Oklahoma students have the best education possible.”
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