Oklahoma schools chief wants to make students watch announcement of new religious department
(Photo by Stephen Morton/Getty Images)
Oklahoma’s controversial education superintendent sent a directive to public school leaders statewide requiring them to show students his video announcement of a new Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism within the state Department of Education.
Districts were also told to send the video to all parents of students, but the state’s two largest districts, Edmond in suburban Oklahoma City and Bixby in suburban Tulsa, said they have no plans to show students the video.
In a statement issued Friday, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said Walters has no authority under state law to issue such a mandate.
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"Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights," the statement said.
In the video, Walters prays for President-elect Donald Trump and says religious liberty has been attacked and patriotism mocked "by woke teachers unions."
Walters said the new department will "oversee the investigation of abuses to individual religious freedom or displays of patriotism."
Previous controversies
Walters already faces two lawsuits over his June mandate that schools incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12. Several school districts have previously stated that they will disregard the mandate.
One of the lawsuits also notes that the initial request for proposal released by the State Department of Education to purchase the Bibles appears to have been tailored to match Bibles endorsed by now President-elect Donald Trump that sell for $59.99 each.
The request for proposal was later amended at the request of state purchasing officials.
The Associated Press reported in October that Trump’s "God Bless the USA" Bible were printed in China, a country Trump has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices, at a price of less than $3 per Bible.
Walters announced earlier this week that he has purchased more than 500 of the Trump Bibles to be used in Advanced Placement government classes. They cost about $25,000.
Walters, a former public school teacher elected in 2022, ran on a platform of fighting "woke ideology," banning books from school libraries and getting rid of "radical leftists" who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms.