Walters awarded staff $600,000 in bonuses

Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters awarded nearly $600,000 in end-of-year bonuses to Department of Education staff in 2024.

Most employees received an amount equal to 2.5% of their annual salary, an average of $1,700.

A few received significantly higher amounts, payroll data shows. They include the department’s chief academic officer, Walters’ executive assistant, the director of social studies and the open records coordinator.

Chief Policy Advisor Matt Langston received nearly $45,000 in January, $34,000 more than a typical paycheck, according to payroll data on the state’s transparency website. It’s unclear whether that reflects a raise, a bonus, or both. It’s coded as regular pay. A spokeswoman for Walters, Grace Kim, would not answer questions.

“The press office does not comment on personnel matters,” Kim said.

Langston is one of the agency’s highest-paid employees, earning approximately $130,000 in 2024, which is estimated because three months of the agency’s payroll data are missing from the website.

Langston ran Walters’ 2022 campaign for superintendent and is CEO of the Austin, Texas, based political consulting firm, Engage Right. The firm last year worked with Texas House candidate Stormy Bradley, public ethics reports show. Bradley was defeated in the Republican primary in March.

Langston is registered to vote in Texas, records show, indicating he’s not an Oklahoma resident. Governor Kevin Stitt ended remote work for state employees as of February 1, and Walters did so for his staff in early 2023.

In June, a group of lawmakers asked Attorney General Gentner Drummond to investigate whether Langston was a so-called ghost employee. Republican and former House member Mark McBride, who initiated the request, defined a ghost employee as “an individual who is listed on the payroll but does not actually perform the duties associated with their position.” That, he said, would constitute a misuse of public funds and undermine public trust.

Drummond declined to pursue the investigation.

Langston did not respond to an email or phone call seeking comment. Kim, a spokeswoman for the department, said the press office would not comment on personnel matters. Questions sent to general counsel Michael Beason and program manager Kellie Keefe were referred back to Kim.

Public employees’ gross pay, dates of employment and title or position are public record under Oklahoma law.

The department paid more than $600,000 in bonuses to staff in December, payroll records show. Walters did not receive one; the superintendent’s salary is set in statute at $124,373.

Chief Academic Officer Todd Loftin received an additional $18,000 in December; the records show he received an additional $15,000 in July as well. Loftin earns $120,000 a year.

The records show that Lexi Flanagan, Walters’ executive assistant, and Brenda Beymer-Chapman, the agency’s director of social studies, each received just over $9,000, about 13% of their respective salaries. Flanagan graduated from McAlester High School in 2016, where Walters was a history and U.S. government teacher.

Marley Billingsley, the agency’s open records coordinator, received a bonus of just under $9,000.

In addition to the agency-wide end-of-year bonuses, Walters intends to implement a performance-based bonus program at the agency this month, according to an email dated December 12. In the email, he told staff those bonuses would be paid this month and tied to annual performance evaluations.

We asked Kim to provide details of this initiative but did not receive a response before publication.

Walters, in his agency’s budget request to the Legislature, requested an additional $2.3 million to cover a 6% cost-of-living salary increase for Education Department staff and an increase in benefit costs. Senators in an appropriations committee meeting in February questioned the need to fund a cost-of-living increase, considering the department has decreased its employee count.

He told the committee the agency employed 520 people when he took office in January 2023. There were 387 on the payroll as of January 31, according to the state’s transparency website.