Those pictures may be back, after all.
A year after state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters ordered the portraits of the state’s Educators Hall of Fame removed from the walls of the Oliver Hodge Building, the House of Representatives’ Common Education Committee moved forward a bill to put them back.
Last year, Walters ordered the first-floor hallway leading to the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting room cleared of its portraits of hall of fame inductees. At that time, Walters told The Oklahoman that he didn’t want the Oklahoma State Department of Education to celebrate “union bosses.”
“Union leaders and association heads are not what we will highlight,” Walters said in 2023. “We are focused on empowering parents and kids with the best education possible. Those are the stories I will be showing in the halls of (the Education Department) during my term, not union bosses.”
Tuesday, the House Common Education Committee voted 8 to 1 in favor of a bill to put the photos back. The measure, House Bill 3513, was written by state Rep. Ronny Johns, R-Ada. It authorizes the Office of Management and Enterprise Services to display the portraits of Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame inductees inside the Oliver Hodge Memorial Educators Building.