Oklahoma House Democrats are demanding again that Speaker Charles McCall form a bipartisan committee to investigate state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters.

It’s the fourth time since last August that Democrats have called for an investigation into Walters, seeking what they say would be an accounting of public funds spent on education since the Republican took office in January 2023. The latest call came Wednesday, two days before the Legislature is required by law to adjourn its session. However, House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson said if a committee is formed, it could continue investigating Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education after the session ends.

Republicans hold supermajorities in both the House and Oklahoma Senate, meaning they along ultimately have the authority to form such an investigative committee.

“Now, in the final days of the regular session of the 59th Legislature, we are formalizing our request for a special bipartisan House investigative committee by filing House Resolution 1052,” said Munson, D-Oklahoma City. “Over the last four months, Republicans — who hold power in both legislative chambers and the Governor’s Mansion — have done nothing to listen to and address the concerns of Oklahomans who want to protect our public schools. It is now past time to act.”

A spokesman for McCall didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but McCall has said multiple times in the past few months that because Walters took office as the result of a statewide election, the voters of Oklahoma should be the ones to hold him accountable. McCall has said it would be an extraordinary action for the Legislature to begin such an investigation.

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Dan Isett, a spokesman for Walters, issued a statement shortly after Democrats held a news conference at the Capitol concerning the resolution.

“Oklahoma Democrats are hellbent on creating an educational environment that is not aligned with Oklahoma values or Oklahoma voters,” Isett said. “They have relentlessly sought to use our schools to promote woke indoctrination, fought against accountability and improvement in failing schools, defended sexual deviancy in the classroom, and peddled porn in school libraries. Superintendent Walters will not be bowed by the radical left and neither will the people of Oklahoma.”

During the news conference, Democrats touched on several subjects, including Walters’ efforts to tie school accreditation to high-stakes test results through the use of the administrative rules process, the agency’s decision to not apply for some federal grants and what Munson called the “possible misuse and abuse of federal tax dollars.”

House Democrats have been pushing McCall, R-Atoka, to investigate Walters since last Aug. 29, when they sent him a letter requesting he create a special bipartisan House committee to investigate whether sufficient grounds existed to impeach Walters. That request was denied. In mid-December, they asked again.

After the current legislative session began, they again asked on March 27.

“The chaos that has ensued as a result of the state Superintendent’s leadership has harmed and concerned Oklahomans for a long time,” said Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa. “Our teachers and students deserve to feel safe and that they are in good hands. It scares me to think of the repercussions that have come and will come under the current State Superintendent.

“We have seen bomb threats to Oklahoma schools, the death of an Oklahoma student due in part to harmful rhetoric facilitated by our state Superintendent, and now, we see the alleged mismanagement of federal funds that could go toward providing resources for Oklahoma schools. We can work together across the aisle to find a solution that will ultimately benefit Oklahomans, and that is what this committee aims to do.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Democrats call for House investigation into Ryan Walters