It was a simple declaration to the Tulsa County Republican Men’s Club (TRMC) that first got the crowd chuckling. At a deeper level, Dr. James Taylor illustrated the struggle in our state education system. Wednesday July 8, as a candidate for the office of Oklahoma State Superintendent, Dr. James Taylor said that contrary to his critics’ assertions, “I am actually not a white Christian nationalist.”

To a broad group of racially and age mixed mostly conservative men and women, Dr. Taylor framed parents — not the state, school districts, or churches — as the primary owners of a child’s education. Further Dr. Taylor argues that classroom transparency and parental notification are non-negotiable as are literacy and math, with specific pushes for phonics, cursive writing, and insistence on grade-level reading.