Governor approves three State Board of Education appointments, backs ban on virtual school days and opposes collecting students' immigration status

At a weekly availability press conference, the governor said he approved three appointees to the State Board of Education and reiterated support for Senate Bill 758, which would eliminate virtual school days as counted instructional days, and voiced opposition to proposals that would collect immigration status or addresses for young students.

The governor said the appointments reflect a need for “a fresh set of eyes” on education and tied the changes to student outcomes. “If you've got your education hat on, you're here to make sure that our kids are equipped and have the best education possible,” he said, adding that he acted after seeing National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores “not improving.”

He described SB 758 — which he mentioned by bill number at the news event — as an effort to require in-person instruction rather than count so-called virtual days as instructional days. “I hate the fact that we we got a snow day today, let's make it up. Or let's build in 4 or 5 snow days every year, but let's not call them virtual days and have them count as an instruction day,” the governor said, calling classroom time with teachers “a must.”

On the question of proposals to record students' immigration status or addresses in school records, the governor said collecting that information about young children is inappropriate and risks reducing school attendance. “Collecting, again, 6, 7, 8 year old kids addresses and immigration status in the state of Oklahoma, that's that's not a public safety issue,” he said. “Let's go after the bad guys. Let's go after people that are committing crimes, and let's not terrorize and make our kids not show up at school.”

The governor also tied board turnover to accountability for statewide test performance and said a separately elected superintendent of education complicates responsibility for outcomes. He singled out recent public controversy around the superintendent’s office and said leaders should be held accountable when scores and outcomes lag. “When we've got failing test scores and we've got this kind of turmoil and drama, and he's the superintendent of education, he needs to be held accountable for that,” he said.

The governor described his broader approach as using appointments and other levers to push the state toward better outcomes in education and said he expects to continue replacing board members where results lag. He declined to provide the names of the three appointees during the exchange recorded in the transcript.

Less critical details: the governor referenced parental choice tax credits and charter or apprenticeship models as parts of his broader education strategy but gave no new administrative directives or funding changes during the press conference.