State Sup't Walters: schools must fully fund student meals with existing state/fed dollars

Walters Demands End to Bureaucratic Bloat

Oklahoma Schools Must Fully Fund Student Meals

Oklahoma City, OK – Starting in the 2025/2026 school year, the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) will mandate that every school district fully funds student meals using existing state and federal operational dollars. For too long, Oklahoma’s students and taxpayers have been fleeced by gross mismanagement and bloated bureaucracies that prioritize administrative paychecks over kids’ basic needs. This stops now.

Last year, Oklahoma families were slapped with a staggering $42 million bill for school meals—on top of their taxes—while administrators pocketed a 14% salary hike. This isn’t just incompetence; it’s a betrayal of our kids and communities. “Oklahoma taxpayers are being triple-taxed to cover lunches while bureaucrats fatten their wallets,” said State Superintendent Ryan Walters. “We need less administrators in our schools. We need to get taxpayers dollars to the students, not to grow bureaucracy.”

Big government and administrative overreach have failed Oklahoma’s students time and again, just as the Left’s playbook always does. These new guidelines will force districts to cut the fat, redirect funds to where they belong—our kids—and ensure no family is left footing the bill for mismanaged meals. “This isn’t negotiable,” Walters added. “Bureaucrats who can’t prioritize students over their own perks will be shown the door.”