Sandy Garrett

Sandy Garrett
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction
In office 1991–2011
Succeeded by	Janet Barresi
Oklahoma Secretary of Education
In office 1988–1995
Governor	Henry Bellmon David Walters
Succeeded by	Floyd Coppedge
Personal details
Born	Muskogee, Oklahoma
Political party	Democratic
Residence	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Website	Official website

Sandy Garrett is a retired American Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Garrett is the former Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction.

She was first elected to this office in 1990, and again in 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006. Garrett was the first woman to hold the office of Superintendent and is the only woman to hold a statewide office for five consecutive terms. In 2010, Garrett announced that she would not seek a sixth term in office.

Sandy Garrett was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and later graduated from Stilwell High School. She received her bachelor's degree and master's degrees from Northeastern State University. Garrett briefly pursued but did not complete postgraduate education at the University of Oklahoma and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She later returned to Muskogee where she spent 15 years as a teacher and a gifted programs coordinator in Muskogee County schools. After her years as a teacher, Garrett joined the Oklahoma State Department of Education as the Gifted and Talented Programs Coordinator. She would later become Executive Director of Education Programs, which included rural education, technology, satellite instruction, media applications, and library resources.

Throughout her career in Oklahoma Department of Education, Garrett was an outspoken advocate for children and active participant in education reform. She played a pivotal role in implementing the state's Learning by Satellite program and in establishing a two-way interactive fiber-optic instruction system in the Panhandle region drew national attention to Oklahoma in the 1980s. In 1988, she was named Cabinet Secretary of Education by Republican Governor of Oklahoma Henry Bellmon. Following the election of Democrat David Walters as Governor, Garrett remained in that position.

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