Civil Rights Organizations Request Records On Oklahoma Superintendent’s Bible Mandate

A coalition of civil rights organizations is seeking additional records regarding Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’s recent mandate to incorporate the Bible into public school teaching.

The groups specifically request information on funding associated with Walters's announcement at a Sept. 26 meeting. During that meeting, the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a $3 million budget request for the 2025-26 fiscal year “to provide Bibles to the Oklahoma classrooms.” Walters stated that this “$3 million-dollar ask … would be in conjunction with the $3 million that we’re putting forth currently to provide Bibles in the classroom. So this would give us the ability to utilize $6 million in less than two years to ensure that the Bible hasn’t been driven out of Oklahoma classrooms.”

Organizations involved in this request include the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. They are asking the Oklahoma State Department of Education to provide all records of expenditures during the current fiscal year related to the provision of Bibles for Oklahoma public school classrooms. This includes communications, contracts, invoices, receipts, and payment records. The coalition has requested a response by Oct. 17, 2024.

On July 26, the organizations also sought records related to Walters’ June 27 directive requiring all Oklahoma school districts to incorporate the Bible “as an instructional support into the curriculum” for grades five through twelve. They also requested information on his July 9 press release about a “complete overhaul” of the state’s social studies standards to “incorporate the introduction of the Bible as an instructional resource,” and a July 24 memorandum providing guidance on his Bible-instruction mandate. As of now, the State Department of Education has not produced the requested records.

These requests are made in the public interest, allowing the organizations and their Oklahoma members to assess whether those in government positions are performing their duties honestly and competently.

“All Oklahoma students deserve to learn in an inclusive environment free from religious proselytization,” said Megan Lambert, Legal Director of the ACLU of Oklahoma. “Not only should taxpayers be concerned that the state is spending millions of dollars of their money on religious texts, but religious institutions should also be concerned that Oklahoma is attempting to supplant their role as a religious authority.”

“Oklahoma taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll Superintendent Walters’s Christian Nationalist agenda,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “His latest scheme — to mandate use of the Bible in Oklahoma public school curriculum — is a transparent, unlawful effort to indoctrinate and religiously coerce public school students. Not on our watch. Public schools are not Sunday schools.”

“Public schools are a cornerstone of our democracy and must serve all students, regardless of faith,” said Dan Mach, Director of the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “Diverting millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase Bibles is nothing more than a blatant attempt to divide Oklahomans along religious lines and undermine the public school system.”

“Every Oklahoman, whether Christian, nonreligious, or part of a minority religion, should be outraged at Walters’ attempts to push his personal religious beliefs onto other people's children,” noted FFRF Senior Counsel Sam Grover. “Mandating the use of Bibles in public schools is an extreme abuse of government power.”