oklahoma city– OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s new superintendent of public schools announced Wednesday that he will rescind a mandate from his predecessor that forced schools to close. Integrate the Bible In the study plans for students.
Superintendent Lyndell Fields said in a statement that he has “no plans to distribute Bibles or biblical character education curricula in classrooms.” The directive issued by former Superintendent Ryan Walters last year drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and sparked a lawsuit From a group of parents, teachers and religious leaders, it is pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. It was intended to be applied to students in grades 5 to 12.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Fields to the superintendent position after Walters He resigned last month To get a job in the private sector.
Jackie Phelps, an attorney for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, said she intends to notify the court of the agency’s plan to revoke the mandate and seek to dismiss the lawsuit.
Many school districts across the state had I decided not to comply With the mandate of the Bible.
Tara Thompson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said Fields believes the decision on whether to incorporate the Bible into classroom instruction is best left to individual districts and that spending money on Bibles is not the best use of taxpayer resources.
In March, Walters announced plans to collaborate with him Country music singer Lee Greenwood He is seeking donations to bring Bibles into classrooms after a legislative committee rejected his request for $3 million to fund the effort. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the Bible’s mandate did not immediately comment.
Walters, a far-right Republican Fighting “awakened ideology”Banning some books from school libraries and getting rid of “radical leftists” who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms is a focal point of his administration. Since his election in 2020, he has imposed a number of mandates on public schools and worked to develop them New social studies standards For K-12 public school students that included teaching conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election. Those standards She was suspended While the lawsuit challenging them moves forward.
Thompson said the agency plans to review all of Walters’ mandates, including the requirement that applicants for teacher jobs come from California and New York Take the ideology quizto determine whether it can also be cancelled.
“We need to review all of these mandates and provide clarity for schools moving forward,” she said.