Superintendent Orders Bible into Public School Curricula
After the state Supreme Court ruled that a state-funded religious school would violate state and federal law, the Superintendent of Public Education, who was not a party to the lawsuit and does not have a law degree, published a statement saying, “It’s my firm belief that once again, the Oklahoma Supreme Court got it wrong.”
Yesterday, the Superintendent of Public Education declared that all grades 5–12 must incorporate the Bible in their curricula, which caused the expected flurry of press releases and threatened lawsuits. Attorney General Gentner Drummond responded by pointing out that Oklahoma law already explicitly allows Bibles in the classroom and enables teachers to use them in instruction.
“He won’t, and knows he can’t, enforce this. But he’ll get on Fox News for it so a win’s a win,” Frontier Executive Editor Dylan Goforth tweeted. The Department of Education has a contract with Heritage Foundation-affiliated Vought Strategies to land national television appearances for the superintendent despite legislative efforts to stop self-promotion at taxpayer expense.
There was a rare Matt Langston sighting at yesterday’s state Board of Education meeting. After substantial uproar this month over the revelation that the Department of Education’s chief policy advisor, a Texas resident and political consultant who has rarely been seen in Oklahoma but was paid $45,475 in the first quarter of 2024 causing some to call him a ghost employee, attended the meeting and left notes on journalists’ chairs that read, “Stop chasing ghosts.” The board went into an executive session to discuss discipline for a teacher who no longer works or lives in Oklahoma after she got in trouble for giving students a QR code to a library.
Elsewhere on Thursday, the state executed Richard Rojem some 40 years after he was sentenced to death and the State Regents of Higher Education approved tuition increases for 12 universities.
More worth reading:
Wealthy Benefit Most From Private School Tax Credit
Oklahoma taxpayers have made a significant contribution of $150 million to support the education of private school students, a move that could undermine public education across the state. [The Oklahoma Eagle]
Sheriff Could be Decided by Random Drawing
Last week, Oklahomans voted in county sheriff primaries across the state. In Carter County, the two Republican candidates each received 2,569 votes. Because only Republicans ran, the winner will be the next sheriff, and if a recount doesn’t settle the race, it will come down to pure chance — a name drawn from a container. [OPMX]
Report Details OSDE Unused Grants
Nearly $1.4 million has been left on the table in federal grants, and State Superintendent Ryan Walters told lawmakers that’s due to the exodus of staffers from his department. The LOFT report details two federal grants that expired with money leftover: the Ready2Learn and STOP School Violence Technology and Threat Assessment grants — both from the U.S. Department of Justice and aimed at preventing school violence. [KOSU]
Oklahoma State’s athletic revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023 was $122 million.
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Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
tstreuli@oklahomawatch.org
