Ryan Walters orders Oklahoma schools to show religious office video
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Ryan Walters orders Oklahoma schools to show religious office video

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At least seven large school districts in Oklahoma said Friday they do not intend to show a video of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters discusses his state agency’s new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism, despite Walters saying it was necessary.

Superintendents in Edmond, Mustang, Moore and Norman districts each sent a letter to parents and others saying they would not show the video. The Tulsa World reported that the Owasso and Tulsa districts would not share the video and news site Oklahoma Voice quoted Mid-Del Schools Superintendent Rick Cobb as saying his district would also refrain from showing the video.

The state attorney general’s office backed up the districts. “There is no statutory authority for the state superintendent of schools to require all students to watch a specific video,” said Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office. “This injunction is not only unenforceable, it violates parental rights, local control, and individual free exercise rights.”

Walter’s email was sent just hours after the agency he runs, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, issued a news release in which Walters said more than 500 Bibles had been purchased for Oklahoma public schools, specifically for Advanced Placement Government classrooms.

The announcement and video — which did not provide specific details about how the Bibles were acquired or how much the books cost — are the latest in a plethora of movements by Walters as he works to raise his national profile.

Republican President-elect Donald Trump is quickly filling out his incoming cabinet, and Walter’s name has been mentioned by some national news outlets as a potential choice for education secretary or adviser. Both Trump and Walters have called for the U.S. Department of Education be abolished.

“At this point, I can only laugh,” said state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, who just won re-election in a Republican-majority district while championing a platform to fight Walters. “Where has the common sense gone? … The Republicans I know are not for this kind of crap. They love their public schools, and they understand local control and they listen to their (district) superintendents, and they don’t want anybody to tell tell them what to do.”

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Email to district superintendent ordering them to show Walter’s video

Oklahoma school administrators received an email Thursday night from Walters ordering them to show the video, which lasts one minute and 24 seconds, to their students. In the email, which contained several grammatical errors, Walters wrote: “We are in a dangerous time for this country. Students’ (sic) rights and freedoms regarding religious freedom are constantly under attack.”

He went on to say that the new office within the state Department of Education “will work to counter any attempt to interfere with our Oklahoma student’s (sic) fundamental freedoms.”

Walters ordered district superintendents to show the video to “all children enrolled” and to “send this video to all parents as well.”

Walters ends the video with a prayer, noting that the students did not have to participate. He specifically asked for blessings for “President Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change in the country.”

Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald told parents in a letter Friday that the district would continue “to teach the Oklahoma State Standards and curriculum approved by our local school board that we have always taught. Any changes to that would be based on local decisions.

“Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously decided that we have the authority to make these decisions at the local level and we will continue to do so.”

Mustang Public Schools Superintendent Charles Bradley said in his letter to parents that district officials had “no plans to interrupt the instructional day to show or send this video.”

“Mr. Walters, through his agencies, has the ability to distribute this video should he choose,” Bradley added.

Moore Public Schools Superintendent Robert Romines noted that his district is “committed to following the directives” of the state education agency, but “(we) want to ensure that we make informed decisions that uphold the rights of our students and their families and uphold state and federal laws .” Norman Public Schools Superintendent Nick Migliorino encouraged customers “to keep things in perspective during times of heightened rhetoric and public debate. While these external conversations can sometimes be distracting and overwhelming, remember that they are just conversations.”

Late. Mark Mann, D-Oklahoma City, who was sworn into office Wednesday, encouraged other districts to follow suit and not show the video. Man is a former member from the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education.

“Ryan Walters needs to focus on doing his job, and less on political theatrics,” Mann said. “Districts should ignore this requirement and rely on the guidance of their local school boards as to what type of media and information they deem necessary and appropriate for their students and parents.

“When Oklahoma needs to make progress in reading and math scores, the last thing we need to do is push the superintendent’s blatant, self-serving political agenda.”

Lawmakers also question Walter’s purchase of Bibles

As the video controversy swirled, lawmakers also questioned the purchase of Bibles, which Walters praised in another video was posted on social media last Thursday.

“Today we bought over 500 Bibles which will be in AP government classrooms across the state,” he said.

Walters said the move represented “the first in the country Bible purchase expressly for use in schools as an academic and literary resource,” and described the purchase as “the first step toward providing Bibles for every classroom in the state.”

The purchase was separate from an earlier request for proposals issued by the Oklahoma State Department of Education for 55,000 Bibles. The request was originally tailored with specific requirements that few versions of the Bible seemed to meet. One exception was the “God Bless the USA” Bible endorsed by Trump, also known as the “Trump Bible.”

The request was later withdrawn after coming under fire, but the agency said Thursday it expects to reissue a modified version soon. The original request, as well a Bible teaching mission previously issued by Walters, drew a lawsuit from 32 Oklahomans and is currently pending in the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Dan Isett, a spokesman for Walters and the Oklahoma Department of Education, said the order for “this first purchase” of 500 Trump Bibles was placed Thursday and cost $25,000. He said the Bibles “will arrive in the coming weeks.”

Isett did not respond to questions about the source of funding for the Bibles or when the department had received approval from the Legislature to spend money on Bibles.

State Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore — the outgoing chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Education — answered the latter question Friday by saying the approval never happened.

“I’m the guy who does the articles (for the state education budget) and there was nobody for Bibles,” McBride told The Oklahoman. “We never talked about Bibles. There was never a discussion of Bibles in the education (funding) bill. None at all. Never brought up. Never in its original proposal. It just wasn’t there.

“I still go back to, where did the money come from? There was no appropriation for Bibles. I don’t know that I have a problem with buying 500 Bibles… but where did you get the money? I just wish we would focus on reading , writing and counting.”

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

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