Legal troubles for the Oklahoma Department of Education have mounted since State Superintendent Ryan Walters took the helm—at least seven lawsuits have been filed since January.
The same day Tulsa Public Schools kept accreditation (with looming threats it could still be pulled), another small private school, Infinity Generation Preparatory, lost accreditation. .
Attorney Jim Johnson is appealing. He claims Walters and the state board are violating the law by operating outside of their scope and not following administrative rules or the Open Meeting Act.
Johnson is a former state’s attorney who worked under three attorneys general. “I was the go-to person on open meeting and open record compliance,” he said.
Johnson said his job was to make sure agencies complied with the law. He gave open meeting training seminars and seemingly knows rules by heart. Johnson’s claims are outlined in a 54-page court document. While fighting for Infinity’s accreditation, he tried to tell the board in July. He spoke via phone during the meeting.
“My client has a right to due process, meaning my client has a right to be heard,” he said.
Things got heated in August when Walters tried to set Johnson’s talk time to 10 minutes.
“He does not have the authority to change the Administrative Procedure Act, he does not have the authority to set time limits on hearings, especially due process hearings,” he said.
Although not a client, Johnson does not believe TPS got a legal hearing, either. Not only that, he said watching the board discuss accreditation with the district has been difficult to watch.
“When the state takes action and the state has the authority to take action, it’s not flippant, it’s not silly, it’s not light-hearted,” he said.
At the end of last month’s discussion with TPS, Walters asked the board if they had any further questions. One board member laughed and asked if she could keep the three-ring binder the TPS Superintendent had handed out with information supporting their efforts to succeed.
“People deserve the protection of the law and if state agencies such as the board of education are not going to take due process rights seriously, they need to be called out,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office is investigating criminal misconduct, since a violation of the Open Meeting Act is a misdemeanor.
2News has not independently verified that. 2News also reached out to the Oklahoma State Department of Education for comment and have not received a response.
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