OKLAHOMA CITY
AP
—

A group of Oklahoma public school student parents, teachers and clergy filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the state's top education official from forcing schools to include the Bible in lesson plans for students in grades 5-12.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Oklahoma Supreme Court, also asks the court to stop Republican state Commissioner Ryan Walters from spending $3 million to buy Bibles to support his mandate.

The lawsuit claims the mandate violates the Oklahoma Constitution because it involves spending public money to support religion and favors one religion over another by requiring the use of a Protestant version of the Bible. It also alleges that Walters and the state education agency lack the authority to require the use of educational materials.

“As parents, my husband and I have sole responsibility for deciding how and when our children learn about the Bible and religious teachings,” plaintiff Erika Wright, founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition and parent of two school-age children, said in a statement. “It is not the job of a politician or public school official to interfere in these personal matters.”

The plaintiffs are represented by several civil rights groups, including the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.

The lawsuit also notes that the original “request for proposals” issued by the state Department of Education to purchase the Bibles appeared to be carefully tailored to the Bibles recommended by former President Donald Trump, each Selling for $59.99. The request was later changed at the behest of state purchasing officials.

It's the second lawsuit filed in Oklahoma that aims to challenge Walters' mandate. Another lawsuit filed in June by a Locust Grove man is currently pending in Mayes County.

Walters said in a statement posted on his account

“The simple fact is that understanding how the Bible, in its proper historical context, influenced our nation was the norm in America until the 1960s, and its removal coincided with a precipitous decline in American schools,” wrote Walters.

Walters, a former public school teacher elected in 2022, is pushing a platform of combating “woke ideology” by banning books from school libraries and getting rid of “radical leftists” who he says are indoctrinating children in classrooms.