EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma’s superintendent has sent an email to public school principals urging them to show students his video announcement of a new religious freedom and patriotism division within the state Education Department.
Ryan Walters, a Republican, announced the new position on Wednesday and sent the email to school leaders across the state on Thursday.
“As one of the first steps of the newly created department, we are requiring all schools in Oklahoma to play the attached video to all enrolled children,” the email said.
Districts were also asked to send the video to all parents of students.
In the video, Walters says that religious freedom has been attacked and patriotism has been mocked “by woke teachers unions,” then prays for the leaders of the United States after saying that students do not have to attend prayer.
“I especially pray for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to effect change in the country,” Walters said.
In announcing the new department, Walters said it would “oversee the investigation of violations of individual religious freedom or demonstrations of patriotism.”
Two of the state’s largest districts, Edmond in suburban Oklahoma City and Bixby in suburban Tulsa, said they had no plans to show the video to students.
A spokesman for Tulsa County, the state’s largest county, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for Oklahoma City’s second-largest district said district officials would meet to discuss the email.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office issued a statement Friday saying Walters did not have the authority under state law to issue such a mandate.
“Not only is this order unenforceable, it violates parental rights, local control, and the individual’s right to free exercise,” the statement said.
Walters is already facing two lawsuits over his June order that schools integrate the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12. Several school districts have previously said they will ignore the order.
One of the lawsuits also notes that the state Department of Education’s initial solicitation to purchase the Bibles appeared to be tailored to the Bible endorsed by now-President Donald Trump and sold for $59.99 each becomes.
The RFP was later changed at the request of state purchasing officials.
The Associated Press reported in October that Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bible was printed in China, a country that Trump has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices, for less than $3 per Bible.
Walters announced earlier this week that he has purchased more than 500 Bibles to exploit in advanced government courses.
A statement from the Department of Education said the 500 Bibles are “God Bless the USA Bibles,” were ordered Thursday for about $25,000, and will arrive “in the coming weeks.”
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 claims have children in classrooms indoctrinate.
