A group of 33 parents, teachers, and faith leaders asked the state’s highest court to block the controversial new standards, which dictate what topics public schools must teach starting in the 2025-26 academic year.
The case came to the court amid efforts, mainly in conservative-led states, to insert religion into public schools.
Oklahoma’s new social studies standards for K-12 public school students, already infused with references to the Bible, were revised at the direction of state School Superintendent Ryan Walters.
This issue of A Public Witness looks at the dustup over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School in Oklahoma and the religious freedom arguments before eight black-robed justices.
For years, Rev. Shannon Fleck has been challenging Christian Nationalists in Oklahoma. Now, she’s ready to mobilize on the national level.
Fleck, a former probation officer turned pastor, was one of the leading voices against efforts to put Trump Bibles in schools.
This issue of A Public Witness cracks opens the books to study problems with the new social studies standards where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain.
While its effort to buy Bibles for classrooms is tied up in court, the Oklahoma Department of Education initiated a new vendor search to purchase materials containing Bible-infused character lessons for elementary-aged students.
A debate in the Oklahoma Senate yesterday over the use of corporal punishment against children with disabilities turned into a lesson about how not to read the Bible.
The conservative-dominated high court has issued several decisions in recent years signaling a willingness to allow public funds to flow to religious entities.