The Oklahoma Department of Education has opened the bidding process for a Bible-based curriculum designed for public elementary school children, according to a newly posted Request for Proposal.
The move comes as state Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters deals with an ongoing lawsuit by more than 30 teachers, faith leaders, parents and their children opposed to his plan to spend more than $3 million in taxpayer funds to purchase Bibles for public classrooms. At least 13 large Oklahoma school districts have said they will not obey Walters’ order to put the sacred texts in classrooms.
The Feb. 21 posting seeking curriculum came less than two weeks after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt replaced three state Board of Education members, an action that drew Walters’ ire although some suspect it to be underhanded support of his possible gubernatorial candidacy.
In the video he wants shown to all students, Ryan Walters bows in prayer for Donald Trump. (Screencap)
Throughout his efforts to place Bibles and Christian teaching into public schools, Ryan has maintained it is only to help teach U.S. and Oklahoma history. And he did so again in promoting the new request for curriculum, KFOR 4 in Oklahoma City reported.
“You can be offended by Christianity. You can not agree with Christianity, but that doesn’t give you the right to take Christianity out of American history, and that’s what we’ve seen the left do. We have been very specific. The Bible is there for its historical context,” he said.
Some state legislators were not convinced.
“The state superintendent is focused on anything and everything but what our constituents are asking of us when it comes to public education,” said Rep. Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City.
“Monday School should never be Sunday School. That’s something that should be taught at home,” said Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City.
Alex Luchenitser, an attorney with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, described the curriculum proposal as a brazen attempt to promote a single faith perspective: “This proposal to buy Bible-infused instructional materials is just one in a series of attempts by Superintendent Ryan Walters to proselytize Oklahoma schoolchildren in his favored religion. Public schools are not Sunday schools. Families, not politicians, should decide if, when and how children engage with religion.”
“Monday School should never be Sunday School.”
Luchenitser, one of the lawyers in the ongoing Bible lawsuit, said the church-state separation struggle is clearly not over in Oklahoma. “We’ll continue to fight Walters’ attacks on church-state separation and on the religious freedom of Oklahoma children and parents.”
The state RFP is labeled under “Character Instruction” and calls for materials emphasizing core virtues like responsibility, respect and honesty. Materials must also include exercises and activities enabling students to apply the lessons to daily life.
“Materials should contain age-appropriate biblical content, provide simple explanations that are easily understandable for elementary age students, and demonstrate how biblical figures and stories have influenced historical events and cultural practices in the United States.”
The request further requires the curriculum include refences to “key figures and events that have shaped the history and culture of Oklahoma.”
The proposed teaching materials also align with the state’s yet-to-be adopted social studies standards Ryan introduced in December.
“The new standards are among the strongest in the country: pro-America, pro-American exceptionalism, and strengthened civics and constitutional studies across every grade,” the Department of Education announced. “They include Supt. Walters’ Bible curriculum recommendations and mention the Bible and its historical impact over 40 times.”
Walters is scheduled to present the updated standards to the State Board of Education Feb. 27. If approved, the standards would go on to the Legislature.
South of the Red River, Texas also has also been home to controversies involving religiously based teaching. In November, the Texas Board of Education voted 8-7 to approve Bible-infused lessons for teaching reading and language arts to K-5 students. The hotly debated Bluebonnet Learning program, although optional, offers $40 per student to districts that approve the materials.
In a January letter, Americans United, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, the Center for Inquiry and the Freedom From Religion Foundation urged school superintendents to reject the religious teaching plan: “Religious freedom is a fundamental American value. It ensures that we each get to decide for ourselves what to believe about religion — and that families get to decide how and what they will teach their children. But when state officials use public schools to usurp parents’ rights to teach about religion, it sows distrust in our schools and divides our communities.”
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