John Cox vows to ‘Make Education Great Again’ as Oklahoma superintendent

Editor’s note: This is the first of a series of profiles on the seven Republican candidates seeking the party’s nomination for state superintendent. Profiles will run in alphabetical order.

In his fourth campaign for state superintendent, a longtime rural school leader aims to make significant changes to the state’s testing structure and teacher pay scale as Oklahoma’s top education official.

Peggs Public Schools Superintendent John Cox, 62, has spent more than 30 years at the eastern Oklahoma district of 160 students.

Cox, of Hulbert, ran twice as a Democratic candidate for state superintendent in 2014 and 2018 and as a Republican in 2022 and 2026, with his latest campaign promising to “Make Education Great Again.”

Joining him on the Republican ballot in the June 16 primary election are William Crozier, former school district and CareerTech administrator Robert Franklin, state Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, Southern Nazarene University senior research analyst Debra Herlihy, state Sen. Adam Pugh and high school teacher James Taylor. The winner will face one of two Democratic candidates: Jennettie Marshall, a former Tulsa Board of Education member, or retired El Reno Public Schools Superintendent Craig McVay.

Former state Superintendent Ryan Walters, a Republican, put the elected position, which leads the Oklahoma State Department of Education and state Board of Education, under a national spotlight with controversial policies and frequent media appearances before he stepped down on Sept. 30. 

Lindel Fields, who was appointed to finish Walters’ term, kept his promise not to run for the post in the 2026 elections.

Cox said his 40 years of work experience in public schools and expertise in school finance set him apart in the crowded race.

He has advocated for a significant change to Oklahoma’s structure for state testing. 

Rather than having students take state tests for math, reading and science once a year in the spring, he said Oklahoma should switch to a benchmark model where assessments are administered periodically throughout the school year.

Walters called for a similar testing overhaul before he resigned, but Fields scrapped the idea.

Cox said, if elected, he would emphasize phonics-based reading programs and would push for raising public education funding, knowing it “will be my job as state superintendent to show a purpose for that money and why we need it and why we need the increases.”

One of those increases, he said, should raise Oklahoma’s minimum starting teacher salary to $50,000 from $41,601. 

He said he’s supportive of the state’s tax credit program for private-school and homeschool families. Whether school choice options should expand into the realm of religious charter schools, as has been proposed in Oklahoma, is for the courts to decide, he said.

Cox said his goal is to make public schools the No. 1 choice for Oklahoma families, including his own. His school-aged grandchildren currently attend a private school.

“Being a (grandfather) makes you look at things a lot different,” he said. “Knowing are your kids going to be safe and are they going to be learning. Really, those are the two things that I’m campaigning on all across the state is just keeping our kids safe and improving our status, making our education better for our children.”