2022 State Superintendent Final Election Forum

Saturday, October 15th at Stroud HS, Stroud Oklahoma*

*DISCLAIMER - Political gatherings are protected free speech activities.

Oklahoma Title 70, Chapter 1, Article V, Section 5-130 allows a public school district to encourage increased community involvement to include permitting the use of the property for political purposes. The statute states The State Board of Education shall encourage local boards of education to promote the use of their buildings for such purposes.

Additionally, Oklahoma Title 74, Appendix I on Ethics Commission Rules, Rule 2.8 outlines Use of Public Property for Political Purposes as follows: meeting rooms, auditoriums, parks, colleges and other educational campuses or similar spaces MAY be used for political purposes provided (1) if a fee is customarily charged for the use of the facility, that fee will be charged for the use of the facility for political purposes and (2) the facility will be made available upon request to all political parties, to all political action committees, to all candidates for the same office or to all supporters or opponents of a state question, respectively, all in the order in which the requests were received. Nothing herein shall require that any public facility be made available for political purposes. Nothing herein shall prohibit the use for political purposes of a traditional public forum or other forum required by the United States Constitution or Oklahoma Constitution to be used for such purpose.

Pursuant to law, both candidates for Oklahoma State Superintendent were invited to this community forum on Monday, August 29th of 2022. Jena Nelson accepted the invitation that same day. Despite sending a follow up invitation reminder on Tuesday September 20th of 2022, the ORSC received no communication from Ryan Walters until Friday, October 7th. In this communication, Mr. Walters’ campaign manager (Matt Langston) notified us that Mr. Walters would not be attending the event. Although not required to by law, on Monday October 10th, ORSC offered to reschedule the event to another date that would work for Mr. Walters, requesting 2-3 alternative dates by no later than 10am on Wednesday, October 12th. We received no response. At 10:27am on Wednesday, October 12th, ORSC extended an additional offer to pivot to an online format, requesting a response by 10am Thursday, October 13th. We received no response. Due to lack of response in the reasonable time frames requested, ORSC made the decision to move forward with the event as planned, notifying the Walters campaign of this decision, with the invitation for Mr. Walters to still participate in a live-debate style format should he choose to change his plans and participate on Saturday, October 15th.

A public school is allowed by state and federal law to lease their facility to any community group for political forums, provided all candidates are invited to participate. ORSC provided ample opportunity for both candidates to participate in this event and documented efforts to provide fair and equal opportunity for participation. Had the Walters campaign requested to send a representative to man an information table, ORSC would have allowed that as fair and equal access. The Walters campaign did not send a proxy representative to the event.

ORSC and Stroud Public Schools followed all required laws and ethics rules around this community event.