Records: Walters, advisors continue billing taxpayers thousands for travel to partisan events, retreats, media appearances
State Superintendent Ryan Walters and his top staff continue to bill Oklahoma taxpayers for expenses related to out-of-state trips—including for talk show appearances, a multi-day retreat, PragerU events at five-star resorts, and even a hot air balloon tour—according to open records obtained by News 4.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — State Superintendent Ryan Walters and his top staff continue to bill Oklahoma taxpayers for expenses related to out-of-state trips — including for talk show appearances, a multi-day retreat, PragerU events at five-star resorts, and even a hot air balloon tour — according to open records obtained by News 4.
This week, News 4 obtained out-of-state travel expense records for State Superintendent Ryan Walters, his Chief Policy Advisor Matt Langston and his spokesperson Dan Isett dating back to the day Walters took office in 2023.
News 4 did not obtain the records through the Oklahoma State Department of Education, but rather from the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES).
In January, News 4 reported when Walters faced intense scrutiny for his out-of-state travel expenses billed to taxpayers, which at that time included other trips for talk show appearances, partisan conferences, and even a movie premiere.
The new records News 4 has obtained indicate, since facing that scrutiny in January, Walters and his staff have continued to bill the state travel expenses for trips Walters makes to help grow his national political profile.
Now, multiple Republican and Democratic Oklahoma lawmakers tell News 4 they want to see Walters’ spending formally investigated.
Back on March 19, Walters appeared on Fox News. On the studio backdrop behind him was a picture of the Phoenix skyline.
The records obtained by News 4 indicate Walters went to Phoenix for a five-day retreat hosted by national conservative think tank ‘the Heritage Foundation.’
Walters’ travel itinerary for March 19 scheduled him to begin the day at 5:45 a.m. for a “sunrise hot air balloon tour.”
Other things on Walters’ five-day itinerary included attending sessions titled “Philosophy and Conservative Vision of Education” and “How do we grow the movement,” among others.
Walters also attended a reception dinner hosted by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts.
Roberts is a main co-author of the Heritage Foundation’s controversial ‘Project 2025’ plan.
Walters recently named Roberts to an executive review committee he tasked with rewriting Oklahoma’s social studies curriculum standards.
The records obtained by News 4 show, in total, Walters billed the State of Oklahoma $1,160 for airfare, mileage, per diem, taxi and “miscellaneous” expenses. The records indicate he did not seek to be reimbursed for lodging expenses on the trip.
News 4 obtained many more travel records for Walters.
According to records, in February, Walters expensed $239.70 to the state for vehicle mileage incurred while he traveled to and from events in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma City and Tecumseh he indicated on his reimbursement form were “official speaking engagements.”
The reimbursement form indicated Walters did not have agendas to share for the events he attended, with Walters leaving a handwritten message on the form saying “no agendas.”
News 4 looked up the addresses of the locations Walters traveled to and from for which he sought mileage reimbursement due to them being “official speaking engagements.”
All of the addresses matched to various churches, except for one, which matched to ‘Napa Flats Wood Fired Kitchen’ in Tulsa.
Also in February, records indicate Walters charged taxpayers $368 for expenses related to a trip he made to Hendersonville, TN, outside Nashville, where he made an appearance on Mike Huckabee’s talk show.
The records obtained by News 4 also indicate Walters charged taxpayers for travel expenses he incurred while attending a different Heritage Foundation event in Des Moines.
According to that expense report, Walters charged the state a total of $1,396 for the Des Moines trip, including $600 for airfare, $500 for lodging, $96 per diem, $100 for taxis and $100 for “miscellaneous” expenses.
Records show Walters flew from Des Moines to Los Angeles, where he attended an event in Beverly Hills hosted by PragerU, a conservative media company.
Walters charged the state an additional $885 for the Los Angeles leg of the trip.
Under a line on the expense report asking Walters to list his justification for attending the event, he wrote “Flying out to Las Angeles to attend policy meetings, film a promotional video with PragerU, and to give keynote address.”
According to records, Walters attended another PragerU event in March, held at ‘The Breakers Palm Beach,’ a five star resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
He listed “meetings to discuss Oklahoma education policy with national stakeholders” as the “nature of business” for the trip on his expense report.
Records show Walters did not stay on property at The Breakers, but instead at nearby Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
In total, Walters charged the state $2,060 for the Palm Beach trip, including $900 for airfare, $50 for mileage, $600 for lodging, $310.50 per diem, $100 for taxis and $100 for “miscellaneous expenses.”
Walters is not the only OSDE employee for whom News 4 obtained travel records.
News 4 also obtained travel expense records for Walters’ Chief Advisor, Matt Langston, and spokesperson, Dan Isett.
Those records indicate Langston and Isett traveled with Walters on at least two separate occasions.
Isett traveled with Walters during an August trip to Washington, D.C., the itinerary for which lists meetings between Walters, his staff and a Fox News guest booker, Heritage Foundation officials, and several talk show appearances.
According to Isett’s travel itinerary, he flew out of Oklahoma City on Sunday, August 27, but did not return to Oklahoma City after the trip, Instead, he flew from D.C. to Austin, Texas.
Similarly, Langston’s travel itineraries all showed him beginning his trips by departing from Austin, Texas, and ending the trips by flying back to Austin, Texas — all covered by the state of Oklahoma.
In total, News 4 found the State of Oklahoma reimbursed Langston and Isett more than $3,000 each for the two trips they each took with Walters, for which records exist.
The records uncovered by News 4 have led multiple Republican and Democratic Oklahoma lawmakers to call for Walters to be formally investigated.
“At this point, I think there needs to be some kind of investigation,” State Rep. Mark McBride (R-Moore) told News 4. “You're attending an event at a five-star hotel in Florida. That's kind of ridiculous.”
“We have called repeatedly for an investigative audit on how these dollars are being spent and if they're appropriate,” State Rep. Melissa Provenzano (D-Tulsa) told News 4. “You know, I'm reminded of epic charter schools and the founders of Epic charter schools and the embezzlement that happened there. It's very, very similar.”
“I'm saying to anybody on the GOP side that has any power to do anything about this guy, to rein him in, to do whatever it is, to make sure that taxpayers know exactly how their dollars are being spent,” State Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman) told News 4.
State Representative Daniel Pae (R-Lawton) told News 4 the legislature should not wait until next year’s legislative session to take action.
“I'm open to looking at things between now and next year if we need to, because we are in charge of the taxpayers’ money,” Pae told News 4. “At the end of the day, it is up to us to make sure taxpayer money is being used prudently and efficiently in all different agencies, including SDE.”
News 4 reached out to OSDE spokesperson Dan Isett with the following questions:
- Back in January, it came out that Supt. Walters had been charging the state for expenses related to his travel for talk show appearances, partisan events, speaking engagements and other personal activities. It appears as though that practice has continued since that became public in January. Why has Walters continued to charge such expenses to the state, after falling under such intense scrutiny and ciriticism for this practice?
- Walters charged the state for travel expenses for PragerU events at resorts in West Palm Beach and Beverly Hills. What was discussed at these events? What will Oklahoma public school students and teachers gain from taxpayers paying for Walters' attendance at these events?
- On 2/24 and 2/27 Walters charged the state for mileage to and from events he labeled as "official speaking engagements" in Tulsa, Broken Arrow and Tecumseh. He did not provide agendas for these events. It appears the speaking engagements all took place at churches. What was he discussing at those events?
- On 5/29, Walters traveled to Austin, where his agenda indicates he met with members of the Texas State School Board and Texas Public Policy foundation. Why were the discussions necessary? What was discussed?
- Do you and/or Matt Langston travel with Walters on all of his trips? If so, how come OMES only has a select number of travel expense reports for you and Matt. Do you both cover your own travel costs out of pocket?
- Why do all round trip flights for Matt Langston originate and terminate at Austin Bergstrom Airport? Does Matt not live in Oklahoma?
- How can you justify any of this as necessary state travel expenses?
- Should these not be considered campaign expenses?
Isett chose not to respond to any of the questions, instead telling News 4’s Spencer Humphrey the following via email:
“Spencer,
It's telling that you think an event at a church is somehow disqualifying.
Superintendent Walters speaks at events to share best practices and to keep the public informed about his successful reforms of Oklahoma education. He will never stop fighting for parental rights and improved student academic outcomes, and will never bow to the liberal media - like KFOR - when they willfully lie to the public.”