Ryan Walters, state superintendent of public instruction at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, had one of his schools mentioned in the
report and testified at the hearing.
"Following the discovery that one of our school districts in Oklahoma, Tulsa Public Schools, was named in that report, my staff diligently conducted a further investigation into the issue and discovered a disturbing connection between the CCP and that school district," Walters said in his testimony. "Through a series of non-profits, that school district maintains an active connection with the CCP through a program called Confucius Classrooms, even after the federal government cracked down on similar programs in 2020."
Walters advocated for banning this kind of funding.
"With whatever common sense remains, I urge that Congress pass a law to ban schools from accepting money from hostile foreign governments and prohibit data sharing agreements with hostile foreign governments," he said in his testimony. "At the state level, state education agencies should require districts to report foreign money they accept and non-profit money they accept."