OKLAHOMA CITY – In February 2025, the Oklahoma State Board of Education ignited a firestorm of controversy by approving new academic standards that mandate public schools teach about the Bible and American patriotism. Now, just a few months later, a coalition of parents, teachers, and religious leaders has filed a lawsuit asking the state’s highest court to block the standards before the new school year begins.
The new standards, passed in a 5-1 vote on February 27, 2025, would overhaul the way Oklahoma’s public schools teach social studies. Beginning in the 2025–2026 academic year, students as early as second grade would be taught biblical stories and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth “that influenced the American colonists, founders and culture.” The curriculum would continue through fifth and eighth grades, focusing on what the standards call the “Judeo-Christian values” of America’s founding generation.

Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters speaking to the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce in September 2023 [Public Domain
State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who leads both the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the State Board of Education, has been the driving force behind these changes. He ordered that every public school classroom must contain a copy of the Bible and directed that instruction be based on its content. “Oklahoma is putting the Bible and the historical impact of Christianity back in school,” Walters declared when first releasing the draft standards in December 2024. “We are demanding that our children learn the full and true context of our nation’s founding.”
Although Walters did not comment on the religious aspects of the standards during the board meeting and declined to speak to reporters afterward, he defended the plan in a later statement. “I am unashamed that Oklahoma students will get an America First education based in facts this fall,” he said. “The Left continues their attempts to destroy Christianity, our history and America herself.”
But critics argue that the standards are anything but factual. On Tuesday, a group of 33 plaintiffs—including parents, teachers, clergy, and faith leaders—filed suit with the Oklahoma Supreme Court. They’re asking the court to reinstate the previous social studies standards, approved in 2019, until a new and legally compliant version can be adopted. The plaintiffs are represented by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
Lead plaintiff, Rev. Dr. Mitch Randall, a Baptist minister and member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, issued a scathing rebuke of the standards. “As a Christian, I object to Oklahoma’s new social studies standards that require teachers to deceive students by presenting inaccurate information as fact,” Randall said. “To reduce the Bible to a history book – rather than treating it as a theological text – does a disservice to public school students, their families, their teachers and those who consider the Bible to be a book of faith.”
Randall also drew attention to Oklahoma’s painful history of forced religious conversion in Native American boarding schools. “It’s a painful reminder of the forced religious proselytization my family members experienced,” he added.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue the new standards violate several provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution, including its strong protections for religious freedom. “Public schools are not Sunday schools,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “These new social studies standards will violate students’ and families’ religious freedom by promoting one version of Christianity and advancing Christian Nationalist disinformation. Not on our watch.”

Great Seal of Oklahoma [Public domain
Brent Rowland, legal director of Oklahoma Appleseed, said the standards undermine the neutrality of public schools and damage public trust. “Every public school classroom—likely a child’s first personal encounter with their government—must be inclusive and welcoming, and nurture curiosity, not impose religious or political agendas.”
The plaintiffs also claim the process of adopting the standards violated Oklahoma’s Open Meeting Act and other procedural rules. According to the lawsuit, the version of the standards approved by the board was substantially different from the version publicly released, and even some board members were unaware of the changes at the time of the vote.
The legal challenge also raises concerns about the accuracy and age appropriateness of the new curriculum. The plaintiffs argue the standards improperly include language that promotes disproven claims about the 2020 presidential election, such as alleging “sudden halting of ballot-counting” and “sudden batch dumps,” which the lawsuit contends “make clear that the 2025 standards are intended to promote the view that Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 presidential election.” Walters denies that the standards push a specific political view and says they are meant to encourage independent thinking.
This latest lawsuit is not the first time Walters’ directives have faced legal scrutiny. A separate case filed last year challenges his order requiring schools to teach from the Bible and keep a copy in every classroom. That case, Rev. Lori Walke v. Ryan Walters, is still pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
With the new school year fast approaching in August, the plaintiffs have asked the court to issue an emergency order blocking the standards from taking effect while the case is litigated. If allowed to proceed, the standards could set a new national precedent in the ongoing debate over religion in public education.
As Brent Rowland concluded, “Our lawsuit defends educational integrity and the public’s right to open, accountable government, and it defends the family as the source of the child’s religious upbringing.”
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