After controversial leadership under Ryan Walters and growing statewide concern over educational outcomes, nine Oklahomans are running for the state’s top education seat. Before voters begin to narrow the field in June, here’s what you need to know about the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The superintendent carries out education laws as director of the Oklahoma State Department of Education and president of its board. They are elected by voters, though Gov. Kevin Stitt unsuccessfully tried to make it an appointed role.
Superintendents serve a four-year term, with a two-term limit. Like any other position in the state executive branch, they must be 31 or older, a U.S. citizen and have met the standards to vote in Oklahoma for at least 10 years.
The state board, alongside the superintendent, defines academic standards, certifies teachers and implements policies for public districts across the state.
The 2026 contenders include two Democrats and seven Republicans, first heading to the ballot box for primary elections June 16. They’re fighting to follow the high-profile, often controversial Walters, who resigned in September, and interim superintendent Lindel Fields.
Who’s on the ballot?
Unless one candidate wins the majority of votes cast in June, the Republican primary is likely to go to a runoff election Aug. 25. Then, the winning Democratic and Republican candidates will go head to head in the November ballot box.
In June, former Tulsa Public Schools board member Jennettie Marshall will face former El Reno Superintendent Craig McVay in the Democratic primary.
These candidates will be on Republican primary ballots:
- John Cox, superintendent at Peggs Public School;
- William Crozier, former teacher;
- Robert Franklin, former associate superintendent at Tulsa Tech;
- Toni Hasenbeck, Oklahoma state representative, R-Elgin;
- Debra Herlihy, senior research analyst at Southern Nazarene University;
- Adam Pugh, Oklahoma state senator, R-Edmond;
- James Taylor, senior pastor of First Christ’s Church of Norman.
Registered independents will be unable to vote in the June or August primaries. But they can still weigh in on state questions, like an initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15.
The Tulsa Flyer is currently collecting survey responses from all superintendent hopefuls for a more comprehensive guide to each candidate. Find the latest information on our voter guide.
Responsibilities of state superintendent
The actual responsibility of supervising public education and policy sits with the state board of education, composed of six members appointed by the governor. As president of the board, the superintendent oversees meeting agendas, votes as a member and offers recommendations or advice on decisions, per Oklahoma state law.
The board, alongside the superintendent, oversees public districts for performance, school accreditation and academic standards. It certifies thousands of teachers across the state annually, handling their licenses.
The board also oversees subject matter reviews for Oklahoma’s academic standards, a process regularly conducted by the state board on six-year cycles per subject. In 2027, that includes English language arts at the elementary level, in addition to physical, vocational and computer science education from preschool to 12th grade, according to the state’s adoption cycle.
When policy is set by the state board of education, state legislature or federal government, the superintendent is responsible for interpreting and adopting it through the department of education, according to Oklahoma state law.
The next superintendent will be responsible for leading the implementation of new changes to reading policies passed this year by lawmakers, like bringing back third grade retention and growing a team of literacy coaches at the state department.
At the department itself, the superintendent can adopt rules and policies for operations, organization and administration. They oversee all employees, their salaries and appointments.
The department’s aid office oversees state money for school districts and manages the education funding formula that sustains public schools. Additional funding sources next year will include tens of millions dedicated to education initiatives in literacy and teacher pay passed by state lawmakers this year. This flow of money is accompanied by funds for federal programs like Title I for low-income students and the National School Lunch Program.
While the board manages the department’s budget, the superintendent helps craft it and publicly requests the financial plan annually from the state legislature.
The department and superintendent also control the state’s grading system for schools, the Oklahoma School Report Card, ranking schools on a curve from A-F and collective site-level information publicly.
This year, Fields decided to halt legislatively-approved changes to how the report card is calculated for the 2026 school year. As of April, slowdowns at the federal level meant Oklahoma’s revisions had not yet been approved by the U.S. Department of Education. Fields made the decision to continue calculating school grades with the current plan, meaning factors like chronic absenteeism will continue to play a role.
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