Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters wants to force his version of Christianity into public schools through a new set of state-mandated academic standards for social studies. If allowed to take effect, these standards will force public-school teachers to promote and favor particular religious beliefs to their students.
The new curriculum standards are replete with several dozen references to the Bible and Christianity while containing few mentions of other faiths. These references target impressionable elementary-school children as young as first graders; inaccurately present Bible stories as literal, historical facts; inaccurately proclaim the Bible and Christianity’s influence on the founding of America and the country’s laws; and favor Christianity over other faiths and beliefs in other ways. The new standards also require other inaccurate teachings, including by presenting disproven contentions about the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and by conveying as unquestioned truth the controversial theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a Chinese laboratory.
So Americans United and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice are suing Superintendent Walters, the State Department of Education, and the State Board of Education. Our lawsuit—on behalf of thirty-three Oklahoma parents, children, teachers, and faith leaders—argues that the standards violate numerous state laws and the Oklahoma Constitution. It explains that the approval of the standards violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act and other procedural requirements because Oklahoma officials gave no notice to the public—or even to members of the State Board of Education themselves—that the version of the standards submitted to the Board for a vote was substantially different from the version that had been publicly released. The standards also run afoul of a statutory requirement that Oklahoma’s academic standards be accurate and age appropriate. And the new standards violate the Oklahoma Constitution’s religious-freedom protections by promoting and favoring one religion over others and over nonreligion in public schools, including to especially impressionable first and second graders.
On September 15, 2025, the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued an order putting the new standards on hold. The court prohibited Walters and the state from implementing the new standards. State officials are also prohibited from spending any state funds on the standards. The court ordered the state to treat the prior version of the standards, which were enacted in 2019, as remaining in effect.
