A dozen school districts in Oklahoma said they will not check students’ immigration status if asked by the state’s education department, in the latest sign of growing resistance to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters. “The focus has changed from public school students to self-centered political aspirations,” said Susan Wray, an elementary school principal in Edmond and a former state education department official. School districts also cannot ask students about their immigration status if it may be used to deny them access to a free public education, according to U.S. Department of Education guidance. The Deer Creek, Pryor, Millwood, Owasso and Jenks school districts told NBC News that they do not currently, nor do they plan to, ask students about their status. He threatened to take over Tulsa Public Schools after the district leadership told a board member she could not lead prayers on the microphone at a graduation ceremony.

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Persons: Ryan Walters, Walters, ”, ” Walters, Susan Wray, that’s, “, Rob Miller, Moore, —, Chris Payne, Jeremy Hogan, Kevin Roberts, Miller Organizations: State Board of Education, Oklahoma State Department of Education, Oklahoma, NBC News, Republican, U.S . Department of Education, U.S, Supreme, Bixby Public Schools, Policy Institute, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Policy Institute, Oklahoma City Public Schools, Tulsa Public Schools, Norman, Union Public Schools, Public, Brooklyn Public Locations: Oklahoma, Edmond, Bixby, Tulsa, Pryor, Millwood, Owasso, Jenks, California