Dive Brief:
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Public school teachers, parents and clergy filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma State Supreme Court last week challenging a state mandate requiring Oklahoma schools to teach the Bible and have a copy in every classroom.
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The lawsuit claims the mandate — specifically the $3 million the Oklahoma State Board of Education plans to spend on Bibles for classrooms — violates the state constitution's separation of church and state, as well as other procedural and administrative requirements. The state spending "would support a system of religion," the lawsuit claims.
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Petitioners, represented by leading civil liberties groups, are asking the state's high court to overturn State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters' June mandate requiring schools incorporate the Bible into curriculum and prohibit the state from purchasing Bibles.
Dive Insight:
If heard, this would be at least the second case in less than a year to reach the Oklahoma State Supreme Court over the state's funding of religious education.
In June, the state high court blocked funding from what would have become the nation's first religious public charter school after it found in a split decision that the charter's creation "would create a slippery slope and what the framers’ warned against — the destruction of Oklahomans’ freedom to practice religion without fear of governmental intervention."
Attorneys for the school appealed that outcome to the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month.
Walters issued the Bible directive just days after the state Supreme Court had ruled against the charter school. The directive also requires schools to incorporate the Ten Commandments as instructional support in curriculum for grades 5-12 starting this school year.
Calling the Bible "one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization, along with the Ten Commandments," he said the requirement was "a crucial step in ensuring our students grasp the core values and historical context of our country.”
Then, during a Sept. 26 meeting, the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved $3 million to provide Bibles to Oklahoma classrooms. That $3 million came in addition to the $3 million the state Education Department is already spending on the mandate to purchase Bibles, Walters said at the meeting, per court documents.
Despite attempts from Walters' to enforce the mandate, many districts have chosen to sidestep it. Still, it has led teachers to fear for the loss of their jobs, the lawsuit said. It was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and other civil rights groups.
"The simple fact is that understanding how the Bible has impacted our nation, in its proper historical and literary context, was the norm in America until the 1960s and its removal has coincided with a precipitous decline in American schools," Walters said in a statement to K-12 Dive on Friday.
"It is not possible for our students to understand American history and culture without understanding the Biblical principles from which they came, so I am proud to bring back the Bible to every classroom in Oklahoma," Walters said.
Walters added that he "will never back down to the woke mob, no matter what tactic they use to try to intimidate Oklahomans.”
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