Oklahoma teachers were told to use the Bible. There's resistance from schools as students return (2024)

BIXBY, Okla. — Oklahoma's Bixby school district has lots to show off for a fast-growing Tulsa suburb: a state-of-the-art new high school set to open by 2025, a new ninth grade gymnasium and plans for a $12 million upgrade to a football complex that already rivals that of many small colleges.

But, what the district does not have as students returned last week is a Bible in every classroom — despite a statewide mandate from Oklahoma's education chief to incorporate Bible lessons and promises of repercussions for those that don't comply. Other large school districts have also publicly indicated they aren't making changes either.

The resistance follows a summer order that propelled Oklahoma to the center of a growing push by conservatives to give religion a bigger role in public schools across the U.S. Still, the fight may be far from over while other states, including neighboring Texas, are seeing Republicans advance similar efforts to incorporate the Bible into classrooms.

"If there is no curricular standard that ties with that particular classroom, what would be the purpose of a Bible if not for pure indoctrination?" said Bixby Superintendent Rob Miller, a former Marine Corps artilleryman whose office walls are adorned with medals from some of the 18 marathons he's run and a sign that reads: "Positive Vibes Only."

Miller said it's not uncommon to see students carrying a Bible or praying during a moment of silence at the start of each school day. Two copies of the Bible are available for checkout in the high school library's reference section, along with a book titled "The History of the Bible" that includes maps and other historical details about the holy lands featured in scripture.

But he said a Bible simply doesn't make sense for a seventh grade math classroom or a high school chemistry class.

"As a Christian myself, I am a little offended by diminishing the word of God to a mere classroom prop," he said.

It is unclear how many, if any, Oklahoma school districts are resuming schools this month with a Bible in every classroom. A spokesperson for the state education department, Dan Isett, said the mandate is not optional and that the superintendent has "a wide range of tools to deal with rogue districts" that do not comply.

Under the mandate, Oklahoma schools must incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for all public school students in grades five through 12 in Oklahoma.

School districts also have been offered guidance from law firms that represent them and the state's largest teachers union, the Oklahoma Education Association, that the superintendent doesn't have the unilateral authority to issue such a requirement and that the edict is unenforceable.

The decision by many Oklahoma school districts to disregard state Superintendent Ryan Walters' directive didn't sit well with the first-term Republican, who chastised those districts at the start of a recent board meeting.

"These are the districts that want p*rnography in front of kids under the name of inclusivity, but don't want the historical context of the Bible," Walters said, referring to a failed effort by his education department to force a local district to remove the books "The Kite Runner" and "The Glass Castle" from library shelves because of sexual content.

"It's outrageous. We will not allow it. Just because they don't like it, just because they're offended by it, just because they don't want to do it doesn't mean that they won't do it. They will be held accountable."

The directive from Walters is the latest salvo in an effort by conservative-led states to target public schools: Louisiana has required them to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, while others are under pressure to teach the Bible and ban books and lessons about race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Earlier this summer the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked an attempt by the state to have the first publicly funded religious charter school in the country.

Walters, himself a former public school teacher who was elected to his post in 2022, ran on a platform of fighting "woke ideology," banning books from school libraries and getting rid of "radical leftists" who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms.

Among his Republican colleagues in the Legislature, patience with Walters appears to be wearing thin. State Rep. Mark McBride, a Republican from Moore who chairs the subcommittee that funds public schools, earlier this month sought an investigation into Walters over what McBride says are failures by the department to comply with legislative directives on funding and provide requested documents on expenditures. More than two dozen GOP House members signed on to McBride's request, prompting Speaker of the House Charles McCall to request an independent investigation of the education department.

For his part, Walters dismissed the inquiry as a "political attack" from House leaders and hinted toward the 2026 governor's election, where both McCall and Walters have been mentioned as possible candidates for the seat being vacated by term-limited Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Grant Sullivan, who owns Scott's Hamburgers in downtown Bixby and delivers a sermon every Sunday at a small church in the nearby town of Morris, said he questions whether the Bible mandate is a good idea.

"Have we thought this through?" asked Sullivan, who has a master's degree in theology from Oklahoma Christian University and two children in Bixby schools. "What if you happen to have an atheistic teacher? Are they going to teach it in a way that may be more problematic than helpful?

"It just feels like that's for the home and the church is how I feel about that."