Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is trying to spend millions of Oklahoma taxpayer dollars to put a Bible in every fifth- through twelfth-grade public-school classroom in the state. And he’s trying to force Oklahoma public-school teachers to incorporate the Bible into their everyday lessons. In June and July 2024, Superintendent Walters laid out this Bible Education Mandate in two official memoranda to all Oklahoma public school districts. In September and October 2024, Superintendent Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education took steps toward spending $3 million in state funds to buy 55,000 King James Version Bibles and send them to every school district in the state.
On October 17, 2024, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma on behalf of 32 Oklahomans—parents, students, teachers, LGBTQ+ people, indigenous people, nonreligious and religious folks, and clergy members.
Our suit argues that Superintendent Walters and the State Department of Education grossly exceeded their authority by issuing the Bible Education Mandate and attempting to use state funds to purchase Bibles—and that they illegally ignored Oklahoma procedural requirements along the way. Further, the religious-freedom provisions of Oklahoma’s Constitution prohibit spending state funds to support religious items or one particular religious tradition. Spending millions of dollars on King James Version Bibles—a Protestant version of the Bible—plainly violates the Oklahoma Constitution and its promise of church–state separation.
Our suit asks the Court to rule that the Bible Education Mandate is invalid and unenforceable and that any spending of state funds in furtherance of the Mandate would be unlawful and void. It also asks the Court to prohibit actions to implement or enforce the Bible Education Mandate, including spending any state funds to purchase Bibles. Finally, our suit asks the Court to require rescission of the Bible Education Mandate and withdrawal of attempts to purchase Bibles for use in Oklahoma public-school classrooms.
On March 10, 2025, the Court halted Walters, temporarily, from spending state funds to buy Bibles and supplemental instructional materials that integrate the Bible. On March 12, 2025, we asked the Court to halt a scheme by Walters to distribute to public schools donated copies of entertainer Lee Greenwood and Donald Trump’s “God Bless the USA Bibles.”
In July 2025, Walters ‘demanded’ that the Court allow him to purchase Bibles and Bible-based instructional materials ahead of the new schoolyear. Not on our watch. AU filed another brief opposing Walters’ demand.
