Several developments in the Oklahoma educational system—specifically involving problems we’ve covered over the last two months—necessitate an update on the status and activities of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, the Catholic leadership of Oklahoma and their associates. Unfortunately, while one problem of egregious racial and sexual abuse has finally been addressed, the ongoing problem of state educational funds being used to fund the political and religious agendas of a small group of individuals continues.
I am pleased to note the Oklahoma State Board of Education finally—after over a year-and-a-half—terminated the teaching license and school principal credentials of former Ringling, OK high school principal and football coach Philip Koons. Koons—whose lengthy history of alleged racial and emotional abuse (as well as accusations of both exposing his genitals and requiring young males to exercise naked) I covered in an earlier article—was charged in October 2023 with outraging public decency, and currently faces both criminal proceedings and a civil lawsuit for his behavior.
Before you worry about the impact the actions against Koons will have on the family income, you should know that not only do two of his children remain in their faculty positions in the high school (the son, who with his father is a defendant in the federal lawsuit, has also replaced Phil as the football coach), but Koons’ wife, Shelley, has been granted an emergency counselor certification at Ringling Public Schools by the State Board of Education. While Koons père is no longer employed by the district, Ringling High School will continue to be the family business for the foreseeable future.
Interestingly, when the story of Koons’ problems in Ringling first broke in February 2023, Ryan Walters proclaimed, “We will continue to monitor the investigation as we have since the beginning.” When asked about the details of Koons’ case following the State Board’s disciplinary action, however, Walters cringingly responded, “I don’t know about that one in particular.” This is yet another example of the lack of dedication to his responsibilities and attention to detail for which Walters is famous.
While those Walters supporters who get tripped up trying to spell “MAGA” might remain unperturbed by the Superintendent’s shenanigans (about which I’ve written again and again and again), this is no longer the case for Oklahoma politicians and officials. For example, state representative Mark McBride, a Republican from the Oklahoma City metro-area, has requested investigations into Walters and the Oklahoma Department of Education by both the state and the U.S. Secretary of Education. A state grand jury is also looking into Walters’ handling of pandemic relief funds.
Perhaps most telling regarding Walters’ precarious political and legal situation is a point about which I was in error. In discussing Governor Kevin Stitt’s appointment of Catholic fundraiser Nellie Tayloe Sanders as Secretary of Education, I stated that Sanders—in contrast to her predecessor—“will almost certainly never request…information from Walters, and likewise will not make public any information she does receive.” I was wrong. Sanders not only requested financial records from Walters but, when he continued his long-standing practice of refusing to provide the information, actually went public with the situation.
Because she almost certainly acted with the advisement of Catholic Conference of Oklahoma executive director Brett Farley, Sanders’ exposure marks a pull-back of the Oklahoma Catholic leadership from the chaos agent they not only worked diligently to put into place, but into whom they invested significant resources protecting. It should be noted that the Catholic activist lawyer (and close associate of Brett Farley) Jason Reese continues to defend Walters and the state Department of Education—he represented them in two cases in the last few weeks alone—but the state is also paying $300 per hour for his services. The Catholic Church hasn’t entirely removed its support from Walters—people like Reese will remain where there’s money to be had—but Sanders’ actions nonetheless demonstrate a significant reduction in that support.
Why, you might wonder, is the Catholic Church pulling back on its support now? Walters’ brief Catholic-sponsored political career has always been a legally-challenged clown show, and the Church has benefitted from much of this, so what makes the current situation different? One reason is that the Catholic Church desperately hopes to avoid investigations into the extensive interactions between Ryan Walters and Brett Farley (as well as Jason Reese, John O’Connor and others), which could possibly open the Church to legal difficulties and would almost certainly affect its ability to use state funds as a church school piggybank.
Even more, though, the Church is signaling its willingness to cut ties with Walters because in Sanders it is now able to groom his intended successor (with Governor Stitt’s full cooperation, as can be seen in his recent appoint of Sanders to head the new Human Potential for Future Industries Task Force which, in good “small-government” fashion, appears to largely duplicate the work of an already existing program). Should Walters leave (or be removed from) office, Sanders is now the heir apparent to be Superintendent of Public Instruction and will be fully empowered to continue the agenda of redirecting public school funding to Catholic schools.
So, while we can at least be glad that an individual like Philip Koons has been removed from the public school system, we still wind up saying plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Photo: Wildfires west of Putnam, Oklahoma, USA (Source).
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