Oklahoma State Teachers Conference: A politically influential audience

The “Inspire OK” conference will be held July 15 at the Cox Business Convention Center in Tulsa, with Tulsa Superintendent Ebony Johnson scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

Last year, the Oklahoma Education Association announced that its sponsorship had been denied for political reasons by the administration of State Superintendent Walters. Walters, a former high school teacher himself, has railed against teachers unions, even calling them a “terrorist organization.”

Professional development sessions for teachers are typically delivered by subject matter experts from state education agencies on topics such as world languages, behavior management strategies and student mental health support.

But this year, at least five professional development sessions for attending teachers will be led by representatives from these new conference vendors, including the anti-union Freedom Foundation.

• Rusty Brown, special projects director at the Freedom Foundation, will lead a session on labor relations.

There, participants are promised to learn “about their constitutional rights as educators, how to properly exercise those rights when working in a unionized workplace, and how to distinguish fact from propaganda. You’ll learn about your various union options and explore how to take legal action. There are helpful resources on all of the above topics.”

• Turning Point USA, a conservative youth activist group founded by right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk that works on high school and college campuses, will host a Tulsa-based field representative to speak on “Why Educators Matter.”

“By understanding what TPUSA does for students, educators can help students identify areas of TPUSA values ​​that they are passionate about,” the conference program states.

• The Oklahoma Public Affairs Council, a conservative policy advocacy group, will also be participating in the conference for the first time.

Led by Rick Farmer, who oversees OCPA’s leadership development programs, the session was titled “Prioritizing Oklahoma’s State Budget: A Simulation.”

“If Oklahomans could decide where to prioritize their tax dollars, how would they spend those revenues? Join your colleagues for a lively discussion about how to develop the budget, the actual numbers in the FY25 budget, and how the money should be spent,” the conference program reads.

• Izzit.org, a vendor listed as offering free educational curriculum and materials, has been accused by critics of promoting right-wing ideology through instructional videos on the minimum wage, climate change and questioning why former President Barack Obama identifies as black rather than mixed race.

Representatives from Izzit.org will speak about their free civics curriculum to “develop engaged, informed citizens in Oklahoma.”

• Oklahoma Parents for Student Achievement, a nonprofit that advocates against school privatization and the expansion of charter schools, is also on the list, and its director of parent services will present a session called “Parents + Teachers = Successful Students.”

Walters previously served as executive director of the organization’s former name, Every Kid Counts Oklahoma. Oklahoma Parents for Student Achievement received a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit exemption in November 2023.

Dan Issett, who earns a taxpayer-funded annual salary of $130,000 as communications director for the state Department of Education, declined to answer questions about how much the groups were billed this year.

“Thank you for reaching out to me about the all-star list of sponsors!” Issett said in late May, after which he directed the Tulsa World to file a formal public records request under Oklahoma’s Open Records Act.

The World’s records requests went unanswered, and Walters himself did not respond to a request this week for assistance in obtaining responses to those requests from his institution.

Sponsorship applications specifying these costs have been published on the OSDE website for the past few years.

Among the first 10 vendors listed on the conference website are Professional Oklahoma Educators, Creativity Playbook Leadership Coaching, longtime conference sponsors Tinker Federal Credit Union and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

So the Tulsa World reached out directly to some of those groups, looking for answers.

Drew Beard, state president of the Federation of Christian Athletes, denied that his organization was sponsoring the event in any way and said he would ask OSDE to remove the logo from the conference website, which has since been removed.

“We are not a sponsor and we are not sponsoring this conference,” Beard told the Tulsa World. “FCA does not pay a sponsorship fee for this conference.”

Nicole Emmons, assistant vice president and marketing and communications manager at Tinker Federal Credit Union, said the organization was not charged vendor fees this year.

“This notice just went out on May 14th so maybe it’s a little unsorted. We promote financial education at this event. Last year we paid $1,250,” Emmons said.

The application open to 2023 conference sponsors specified three levels of sponsorship: $5,000, $1,250 or a “memento” donation to be given to InspireOK attendees.

In 2022, Joy Hofmeister’s final year as state superintendent, there were 16 vendor groups listed on the summer conference website.

At the time, the annual state conference was not a one-day event but rather a traveling event that traveled to seven cities across Oklahoma, making the professional development sessions offered by staff from state agencies more accessible to all teachers.

Sponsors that year were the Oklahoma Education Association, American Book Company, Curriculum Associates i-Ready, Lexia Learning, Advanced Copier Systems, LLC, CardioVascular Health Clinic, Oklahoma State Council of School Administrators Cooperative, ETS, Northeastern State University Graduate Program and Riverhawk Scholars Program, Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, Oklahoma State School Resource Center, OneNet, Southern Nazarene University Graduate School of Education and Leadership, Tinker Federal Credit Union, Tools 4 Reading and U.S. Army Recruiting.