Walters slammed for unfunded school lunch mandate critics say he has no authority to enforce

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — State Superintendent Ryan Walters is facing backlash for what critics call an unenforceable political stunt—demanding school districts provide every student free lunch without giving them a single extra dollar to pay for it, and threatening to strip districts of state funding if they don’t “comply.”

Walters made the demand in a social media video and email to parents Monday, warning schools they could lose funding or accreditation if they don’t comply.

But educators and lawmakers say he doesn’t have the power to issue such a directive—and that complying with it would be financially impossible.

In the video, Walters accused Oklahoma school districts of taking money away from school lunch programs and other services in order to pay administrators heftier salaries.

He did not cite any examples to support the claim.

“For far too long, we have seen public schools take taxpayer dollars that are there for students and continue to grow administrative costs, then turning around and charging parents for school lunches,” Walters said in the video. “We need less administrators and more of the taxpayer dollars going to kids directly.”

In his letter to parents, Walters wrote all public schools must begin covering lunch costs for all students starting when the new school year begins next month.

His attempted directive did not come with any increase in state funding to help districts comply. He demanded all districts find funding within their existing budgets, and ordered districts submit OSDE updated budgets reflecting how they reallocated money to fund lunch programs.

He warned districts—if they don’t follow his attempted mandate—the State Board of Education could revoke their state funding, district accreditation or even administrator certifications until they ‘comply.’

“You’re being triple taxed as parents,” Walters said. “And we’re not going to tolerate it any longer in Oklahoma.”

The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) posted Walters’ letter to its website, while urging parents to sign a petition in support of Walters’ attempted mandate.

News 4 asked OSDE why they urged parents to sign the petition, and who they planned to present the petition to—but nobody responded to News 4’s inquiry.

On Monday, State Sen. Mark Mann (D-Oklahoma City) told News 4 Walters’ attempted order is “hypocritical and typical of Ryan Walters.”

Mann pointed to News 4’s reports uncovering Walters has paid five and six-figure bonuses to his own OSDE administrative staff—many of whom are out-of-state political consultants already earning six-figure base salaries.

Mann also noted Walters supported Gov. Kevin Stitt’s decision to reject federal funding that would have covered summer meals for Oklahoma kids.

“I don’t think he’s serious,” Mann said. “I think this is political theater.”

Mann, who previously served on the Oklahoma City School Board, said districts simply cannot reallocate money the way Walters suggests.

“All the federal money has strings attached, goes to certain programs,” he said. “Most of your local ad valorem dollars go to maintain the buildings and pay heating, air and put gas in busses. Schools do not run on a huge surplus budget they can just say, ‘Okay, we’ll take this over and do it.’”

He added administrative costs already make up a small portion of district budgets—typically between 2 and 7 percent—and are capped under state law.

“They’re already capped—districts can’t go over a certain percentage for administrative costs,” Mann said. “So there’s just nowhere to really pull the money from.”

Mann also said June 30 was the state’s deadline for Oklahoma school districts to finalize their budgets for the upcoming school year, and they now cannot legally change them.

In a letter to parents Monday, Bixby Public Schools warned the order “would require catastrophic measures impacting all programming, staffing and class sizes.”

The district estimated it would cost them $5 million a year—money they don’t have.

Mann said Walters doesn’t even have the authority to make such a mandate.

“He has no authority to require any school district to spend money other than what’s already been approved by the Legislature,” he said. “If it’s about feeding kids, he could have started this when he first got in office. He could have come to the Legislature and asked for additional funding to help cover the cost of these meals. I think this is just a political trick to try to get on television and in the papers, which seems to be the superintendent’s operating mode most days.”

News 4 reached out to Walters’ office with specific questions about the criticisms but did not receive a response.

The nonprofit Hunger Free Oklahoma did respond, saying in part, “While we share the end goal, we do not agree it can be achieved by this proposed approach.”

The group added the best path to universal free school lunch is for lawmakers to allocate funding for it directly.