Attorney General’s office: State school board must let legislators into executive session

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office notified Oklahoma State School Board members and State Superintendent Ryan Walters they cannot legally stop certain legislators from sitting in on their executive session discussions, as they did to Sen. Mary Boren last month.

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma Attorney General’s office notified Oklahoma State School Board members and State Superintendent Ryan Walters they cannot legally stop certain legislators from sitting in on their executive session discussions, as they did to Sen. Mary Boren last month.

News 4 obtained a July 18 letter sent from the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office to members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education and State Superintendent Ryan Walters, telling state law makers they cannot legally bar a state legislator from sitting in on their executive sessions, as long as that state legislator sits on an education committee.

Last month, News 4 reported attorneys for the State Board of Education blocked State Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman) from sitting in on the board’s executive session discussions, despite the fact Boren sits on the Senate’s education committee.

“I was a little surprised that they weren't aware of what the law was,” Boren told News 4. “I had emailed the law to them earlier that morning. I thought that that I had done all I was supposed to do to be able to observe that executive session. But nonetheless, I was not permitted to observe that session.”

Last month, Boren told News 4 she wanted Attorney General Gentner Drummond to give an opinion on whether or not it was legal for the board to prevent her from entering.

While Drummond has not issued a formal opinion, his office did assert its role as the State Board of Education’s legal representation to offer the board legal guidance via that July 18 letter.

“Please be advised that this email serves as notice of my counsel on this issue,” Oklahoma AG’s Office Deputy General Counsel Thomas Schnieder wrote in the letter, which he sent to Walters and state school board members via email. “After reviewing the provision together, we [the Attorney General and I] believe that the statute is clear and makes no exception for state agencies, boards, and commissions.”

Schnieder went on to write state law “permits any legislator with a committee assignment to attend any executive session.”

In a statement Friday, Attorney General Gentner Drummond told News 4:

“The law is clear that legislators have significant oversight authority. No elected representative of the people should be prevented from exercising that statutory power.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond

Boren was unaware about the letter the AG’s office sent until News 4 shared it with her Friday. She told News 4 she was pleased to see it.

“The Attorney General is the attorney for the state, it's the attorney for agencies and boards,” Boren said. “And so you would hope that an Attorney General's interpretation of the law by somebody that has many more years of experience of making sure that boards comply with the Open Meetings Act — would be adhered to.”

On July 19, Boren actually sent her own letter to Walters and the state school board.

In it, she also cited laws she said made clear: she is allowed to sit in on their executive sessions.

In the letter, she informed the board, Walters and their legal counsel that she plans to sit in on their executive session at next Wednesday’s meeting.

“With this letter I’m notifying you and the members of the SBE of my intention to exercise my responsibility under 25 O.S. §310 to observe the SBE executive session scheduled for July 31, 2024,” Boren wrote in her letter.

She also wrote that she hoped, if the State Board of Education had any further objections, that they could communicate them to her in a more cordial way, in advance of the meeting.

“As you know, on June 27, 2024, you prohibited me from exercising my privilege under §310 of the Open Meetings Act from attending the executive session of the SBE,” Boren wrote. “At that time, the SBE’s attorney advised you that the attorney client privilege prevented me from observing the executive session. She relayed your decision to me outside of the room where the executive session was to convene. After her explanation, I left. Hopefully, this letter will improve our ability to communicate in a less contentious way.”

Boren told News 4, as of Friday, she still had not received any response to her letter.

The Attorney General’s office told News 4 nobody had responded to theirs either.

Boren said that worries her.

“[OSDE and OSBE] are kind of tone deaf and neglectful in managing relationships,” Boren said. “[Not responding] communicates that they would just prefer the same awkward dynamic to happen again."

She says, it would be very telling if the board were to stop her from entering their executive session next week, in defiance of the Attorney General’s office.

“What that tells me is that if they proceed differently, that they’re proceeding outside of advice of counsel and then they're acting independently, they're not acting in their official capacity,” Boren said. “And if that happens and they're acting in their individual capacity and they're preventing a participation in operating according to law, then it has other legal ramifications.”

News 4 reached out to Walters’ spokesperson for a response to the AG’s Office’s letter, but did not hear back.