It’s one of the reasons the governor replaced three state school board members this week.
At a Wednesday press conference at the Oklahoma State Capitol, Stitt called the new administrative rules requiring schools to count certain immigrant school children "unbelievable."
He says State Superintendent Ryan Walters' use of children to win "political favor" and snag headlines is off the mark.
“Collecting six, seven, and eight-year-old kids' addresses and immigration status in the state of Oklahoma. That's not a public safety issue,” Stitt said. "Let's go after the bad guys. Let's go after people that are committing crimes. Let's not terrorize and make our kids not show up at school. Collecting data on kids and using them as political pawns is not something that helps law enforcement.”
It isn’t helping school outcomes either, he said. The recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report showing Oklahoma’s overall academic outcomes are stagnant at best, Stitt said, is proof of that.
“So when I see our NAEP scores not improving, when I see things that are messed up or wrong, or kids being used as political pawns for some political stunt, It's just frustrating.”
Stitt said he won’t completely rule out federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in schools, but for now, the State Board of Education needs a fresh set of eyes.
About the same time the governor was taking questions from reporters, Walters announced the launch of his personal “Trump Advisory Committee” with two of the ousted board members.
“The Trump Advisory Committee is not here to play politics,” Walters said in a press release. “The weak will be exposed. The corrupt will be held accountable. And Oklahoma’s children will finally have access to the educational journey they deserve.”
When asked about Walters’ new committee, Stitt said protecting the southern border and targeting children with bad policy are not the same.
“People confuse these issues here in Oklahoma. Our Constitution says we're going to educate all kids,” Stitt said. “And I want to make sure that every kid feels safe and is being educated in the state of Oklahoma.”
He reminded people that he sent Oklahoma National Guard troops to Texas in recent years to help manage an influx of border crossings, his visa task force looking into retaining a legal workforce and Operation Guardian, his supposed crime-busting immigration plan.
“Nobody has been stronger on the border than I have,” he said. “And unfortunately, we've got people that are really trying to attack six-year-old, seven-year-old, eight-year-old kids. And I'm not going to let that happen.”
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