Oklahoma schools superintendent: Bibles will be in classes despite no money to buy them [View all]
Source: USA Today
May 21, 2025, 2:29 a.m. ET
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s top education official is insisting classrooms will all have Bibles by fall, even though the state's Republican-controlled Legislature has no plans to give him the $3 million he requested to buy the books.
Whether that — or state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters' broader attempts to require schools to teach from the Bible — will come to fruition could depend on the outcome of multiple lawsuits pending in Oklahoma courts, one of which will soon have an important hearing.
Without providing specifics, Walters said during a May 16 news conference that his agency has "already been exhausting multiple avenues" to acquire copies of the Bible. His remarks came days after legislative leaders and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a deal for the fiscal year 2026 budget, dismissing Walters’ $3 million request to buy more Bibles despite slightly increasing funding for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
“The Legislature can put the money there or not," Walters said. "We're going to have a Bible in every classroom this fall. So that's going to happen. So we're doing that. We've been very straightforward on how we're doing that.” Conservative lawmakers across the country have been leading an effort to spread religious teachings to public school classrooms, including introducing the Bible into reading lessons and requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/05/21/oklahoma-superintendent-bibles-classrooms-funding/83760053007/
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