How schools in Oklahoma are responding to a new Bible mandate

OKLAHOMA CITY — Aaron Baker, who’s preparing for his 13th year of teaching, takes note of the religious symbols that appear in his high school government class.

The Christian crucifix, as well as a Taoism Yin Yang, Shinto torii and Islamic star and crescent, share space on the walls of his classroom. Now, he’s weighing whether he needs to add a Bible.

Oklahoma’s top education official issued a mandate over the summer that Oklahoma classrooms, from grades five to 12, must now incorporate the Bible in lesson plans. The Bible is already allowed to be taught in Oklahoma schools, though the state law says a level of “religious neutrality” must be maintained. But Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a June 27 order that every teacher must have a Bible in their classroom and teach from it.

In additional guidance in late July, weeks before some districts returned to the classroom, Walters said that every Oklahoma teacher should keep physical copies of the Bible, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Ten Commandments as source material in “every classroom in a school district.”

Walters also had a warning for teachers: Teach the Bible, or face the consequences.

“Some Oklahoma educators have indicated they won’t follow the law and Oklahoma standards, so let me be clear: they will comply, and I will use every means to make sure of it.”

Still, as the school year begins, several of the state’s largest school districts say they determine what is taught in Oklahoma’s classrooms and would not change their curriculums.

Though Walters said teachers who don’t comply with the order could have their licenses revoked, the Oklahoma attorney general’s office has clarified that school districts have the power to set what’s taught, not state superintendents.

Baker said he feels like he’s uniquely set up to give world religions their proper context in his classroom, having earned a theology degree and attended seminary before deciding to become a teacher in his mid-30s.

He worries if Walters is giving the green light to others to preach instead of teach.

“Walters has prayed in schools on camera and now is making the Bible part of the curriculum. It’s a slippery slope,” Baker said. “I think some teachers and some principals at other schools might see that and say ‘OK, now I get to evangelize too.’”

Walters’ mandate prompted immediate reaction from parents, lawmakers, and advocates for separation of church and state, who saw the move as an overstep of Walters’ power and potentially a violation of the U.S. Constitution. In his latest guidance Walters added that the Bible should not be used for “religious purposes,” such as preaching, proselytizing or indoctrination.

Rick Cobb, who has been superintendent of the Mid-Del School District in southeast Oklahoma City since 2015, said his staff at Midwest City and Del City schools do not plan on changing their curriculum.

“Our teachers follow the state standards,” Cobb said. “We are following the law and that’s to teach the academic standards. This has nothing to do with being ‘woke.’ This is about letting our teachers, who are professionals, do what they know how to do in the classroom.”

Oklahoma City Public Schools also released guidance on its teaching plan before the start of the new school year. The public school district advised teachers to document detailed lesson plans and not stray from district-approved curriculum materials.

“Our goal is to provide a balanced, objective approach that respects diverse beliefs by adhering to both state requirements and federal laws and regulations,” OKCPS Superintendent Jamie Polk said in a statement. “(The Bible) must not be used for preaching or indoctrination.”

Cobb also questioned why this mandate was necessary at all when schools across the state face much more pressing matters, such as safety concerns at school events, low teacher retention and inadequate pay, and the concerns over student hunger contributing to lower grades and test scores.

Oklahoma’s mandate echoes other conservative efforts in the nation to introduce religion more broadly into school curriculum. Weeks before Walter’s order, Louisiana became the first state to require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

Allyson Shortle, a University of Oklahoma professor who studies group identity in the context of religion and national identity, said Walters is using the Christian nationalism playbook with the ultimate purpose of devaluing public schools in the state to the point where it will force people to look at private religious schools.

“There’s been a very organized effort to de-establish the Department of Education and to go towards a privatized system of education,” she said. “Walters is trying to deteriorate our educational system to the point where all we will have left is pretty much privatized education, and we will not have access to a vibrant public educational system.”

In an interview with PBS News Hour last month, Walters suggested that educators weren’t “teaching the role that the Bible played in American history.”

Watch the segment in the player above.

“The left has been at war with the Bible in schools, they have removed the Bible from schools,” he said. “We will continue to fix that so our kids understand this country.”

Earlier this week, Libs of TikTok, whose account on X is focused on far-right and anti-LGBTQ+ messaging, quoted President Donald Trump’s promise to close the Department of Education if re-elected. The former president pushed for this in his live conversation with Elon Musk on Monday.

“It can’t happen soon enough,” Walters said on X in response to the Libs of TikTok post.

To Baker, Walters’ order is another move to further persecute teachers in Oklahoma.

Since winning his election in 2022, Walters has pushed anti-trans policies, advocated for the banning of pro-LGBTQ+ books, hired a conservative nonprofit to design social studies curriculum for Oklahoma schools, and threatened to come after teachers in the state who dare push back against his policies in any way.

“It’s all very dizzying,” Baker said of the order. “There are times when it feels like I’m expecting my mental health to be worse than it is, because there are times when I’m OK even though it feels like our world is burning.”

Baker is considering lesson plans on the world’s religions and how to teach about Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and its urgent message for racial equality and social justice.

He believes he has the expertise to teach on the subject and put the lessons in their proper historical context.

He’s afraid that’s not the point of the order.