Educators in Oklahoma are refusing a state mandate to incorporate the Bible into their lesson plans, creating an inevitable clash with the start of the school year just weeks away.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters last week released guidelines for schools on how they should integrate the Bible into classrooms, saying that educators who oppose the initiative “will comply, and I will use every means to ensure that.”
The message from some schools in the state: Let’s go.
“I suspect the first thing that will happen is that he will target a specific school district or several school districts that he believes are not complying with his directive, those school districts will then have to decide whether to obey his whim or sue,” said Rob Miller, superintendent of Bixby Public Schools.
“And I can tell you that if Bixby was one of those schools he chose to go to, we would take legal action,” Miller told The Hill.
Walters’ guidance, which follows an announcement in June of mandatory Bible curricula for grades 5 through 12, says that lessons on the Christian text should emphasize its historical context, literary significance, and artistic and musical influence. The guidance also says that a physical copy of the book should be in every classroom, along with copies of the Ten Commandments, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
“To date, schools have been advised by legal advisors (School Board Association and State Attorney General) not to follow the guidance because it goes against current Oklahoma law,” said Lee Northcutt, superintendent of Caddo Public Schools , by email.
The day the guidance was released, a lawsuit was filed against Walters by Joseph Price, a Mayes County resident. Price says in the lawsuit that he is “a concerned citizen and father of children who attend public schools in Oklahoma,” adding that the order violates the separation of church and state.
In a statement to The Hill, a spokesperson for Walters said, “Oklahoma school districts are required by state law to teach the historical meaning of the Bible. Superintendent Walters will hold teachers and administrators accountable. Dishonest and left-wing activists who refuse They can leave Oklahoma and go to California.”
But The Oklahoman reports which at least a dozen school districts in the state have publicly stated they do not plan to comply with.
“I would tell my teachers to keep doing what they are doing, teaching Oklahoma academic standards. Don’t worry about some of the things that are being said at the State Department in terms of repercussions or discipline or anything else,” Miller said.
Schools are skeptical of Walters’ intentions, especially since religious texts have already been included in lesson plans without the mandatory measure.
“Our history teachers have always incorporated religious texts as part of this well-rounded study because it is important to do so, but that is where the line must be drawn,” Miller said.
“His mandate was that we place a Bible and a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom in our district, and without regard to whether or not that Bible would be used as an instructional resource,” he added.
Northcutt agreed: “If a teacher wants to use the Bible as a historical reference, then that is allowed.”
But, he added, “when it comes to forcing teachers to use the new guidance, we will not do so until we are legally instructed to do so.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s (R) office did not respond to a request for comment.
Schools became the main front in the fight for the separation of church and state. In June, the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned approval of what would have been the nation’s first publicly funded religious school, saying it “violates state and federal laws and is unconstitutional.”
And Estado Mais Cedo is not alone in promoting biblical teaching in classrooms. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) earlier this summer signed a law mandating Ten Commandments posters in all classrooms, though that measure is on hold as it faces legal challenges.
Miller said that if Walters decides to take action against Bixby Public Schools, he would “probably achieve our accreditation or something of that nature, and then it would go to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, where I’m confident they would again support the rights of local school districts to make that choice.”
But ultimately, Miller said the goal may be to garner headlines and win tenure before the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.
“I believe what the state superintendent intends, because he has expressed it out loud, is that he would like to be sued, because he would like to see this issue go through the judicial system all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, where I think there is a faction of people who believe that the current composition of the US Supreme Court may be favorable to this type of policy,” he said.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
