The Oklahoma Bible mandate was a June 2024 directive from State Superintendent Ryan Walters ordering every public school district in the state to use the Bible as instructional material in grades five through twelve. Most districts refused, a coalition of parents, teachers, and clergy sued, the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked state funds from being spent on Bibles, and a new state superintendent rescinded the order in October 2025. On November 24, 2025, the court dismissed the case as moot, leaving the underlying constitutional questions unanswered.
What the June 2024 Memo Required
On June 27, 2024, Walters sent a memo to every school district in Oklahoma directing them to incorporate the Bible “as an instructional support into the curriculum” for grades five through twelve.1The Oklahoman. Ryan Walters: Bible Must Be Taught in Schools, Strict Compliance Expected The letter described the Bible as “one of the most historically significant books and a cornerstone of Western civilization” and told teachers to reference it alongside the Ten Commandments when discussing history, ethics, and the foundational principles of the U.S. Constitution. Walters demanded “immediate and strict compliance” and said monitoring instructions would follow for the 2024–25 school year.2The Frontier. We Fact-Checked What Oklahoma Law Says About Teaching the Bible in Schools
The stated purpose was academic, not devotional. Teachers were expected to use the Bible and the Ten Commandments as primary sources illustrating the development of Western legal systems and the thinking of America’s founders.
How It Differed From Oklahoma’s Existing Bible Law
Oklahoma law already allowed districts to offer elective courses on the Old and New Testaments for students in ninth grade and above. Those courses cover biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives as background for contemporary culture, literature, art, and public policy.3Justia Law. Oklahoma Code Title 70 – Section 70-11-103.11 Elective Course Offering on Old and New Testament
That existing law contains safeguards Walters’ mandate did not. Courses must maintain religious neutrality, accommodate diverse religious perspectives, and avoid endorsing or disfavoring any particular religion. Students cannot be required to use a single translation. Teachers must be certified in social studies or literature. And the courses are elective, so families choose whether their children participate.3Justia Law. Oklahoma Code Title 70 – Section 70-11-103.11 Elective Course Offering on Old and New Testament
The mandate went further in two ways. It reached down to fifth grade instead of ninth, and it was compulsory rather than elective. The memo also omitted the neutrality provisions and the multi-translation rule the legislature had written into the elective statute. Under Oklahoma law, decisions about “instruction, curriculum, reading lists and instructional materials and textbooks” are left to individual school districts, which raised immediate questions about whether the superintendent could override that local control by memo.
The Bible Purchase Plan and the “God Bless the USA” Specs
To supply classrooms statewide, the Oklahoma State Department of Education issued a Request for Proposal for 55,000 Bibles with unusually narrow specifications. Vendors had to supply the King James Version containing both testaments, bound in leather or leather-like material, with copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights all in the same binding.4The Oklahoman. Trump Bible One of Few That Meet Walters Criteria for Oklahoma Classrooms
Few commercially available Bibles combined all of those founding documents with the King James text in a leather binding. One that matched almost exactly was the “God Bless the USA Bible,” a King James edition endorsed and marketed by Donald Trump that bundles the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and Pledge of Allegiance. Critics said the specifications appeared tailored to steer the contract to that product.
The initial funding plan drew on roughly $3 million in payroll savings from the department’s existing budget. Walters later asked the legislature for an additional $3 million in fiscal year 2026. The legislature declined.4The Oklahoman. Trump Bible One of Few That Meet Walters Criteria for Oklahoma Classrooms
Districts Refused To Comply
Most major Oklahoma school districts openly declined to implement the mandate. Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma City Public Schools, Norman, Broken Arrow, Jenks, Stillwater, Union, Mustang, and more than a dozen others said they would keep their existing curricula and had no plans to change instructional materials based on the memo.5KGOU. Which Oklahoma Schools Are Pushing Back Against Walters Classroom Bible Directive
Districts pointed to the Oklahoma law reserving curriculum decisions to local school boards. Stillwater said it “will not be purchasing class copies of, nor delivering lessons from Bible or any other religious text.” Oklahoma City Public Schools told teachers to continue with their current plans and use the Bible “only in specific instances where this is appropriate according to the Oklahoma Academic Standards.”5KGOU. Which Oklahoma Schools Are Pushing Back Against Walters Classroom Bible Directive
Walters’ administration did purchase more than 500 Bibles for Advanced Placement government classes before the courts intervened, but the 55,000-Bible statewide rollout never happened.
The Lawsuit
A coalition filed suit directly in the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the ACLU, the ACLU of Oklahoma, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation represented 32 individual plaintiffs, including parents, students, teachers, clergy, LGBTQ+ Oklahomans, and indigenous people.6Americans United. Oklahoma Bible Mandate Lawsuit
The challenge rested on two provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution. Article 2, Section 5 prohibits public money or property from being “appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion.”7Justia Law. Oklahoma Constitution Section II-5 Article 1, Section 5 requires the state to maintain public schools that are “open to all the children of the state and free from sectarian control.”8Justia Law. Oklahoma Constitution Section I-5 The plaintiffs argued the mandate violated both by directing taxpayer funds toward religious texts and imposing a particular religious tradition on public school students, and they challenged whether the superintendent had legal authority to impose that spending without express legislative approval.
How the Mandate Ended
In March 2025, the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued a stay blocking the Department of Education from spending state funds on Bibles or Bible-based instructional materials while the case was pending.9ACLU. Oklahoma Supreme Court Blocks Superintendent Ryan Walters Attempts to Purchase Bibles and Bible-Infused Instructional Materials The order also paused work on a new request for proposals the department had issued in February 2025. When Walters attempted to distribute donated copies of the “God Bless the USA” Bible as a workaround, the plaintiffs returned to court to block that as well.
In July 2025, Walters asked the court to lift the stay so he could buy Bibles before the new school year. The court declined. The state legislature had already refused his $3 million funding request during the 2025 session.10KGOU. Whats Coming to Oklahoma Education After the 2025 Legislative Session
The end came from a change in leadership rather than a ruling on the merits. New State Superintendent Lindel Fields rescinded the mandate and said publicly that he had “no plans to distribute Bibles” or a biblical curriculum in public schools.11Oklahoma Voice. New State Superintendent Has No Plans to Distribute Bibles in Oklahoma Public Schools On November 24, 2025, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the case as moot, confirming that the policies had been rescinded and nullified.12Americans United. Oklahoma Court Cases
What This Means Going Forward
Because the court never ruled on the merits, the constitutional questions raised by the lawsuit are unresolved in Oklahoma. A future superintendent or the legislature could try something similar, and the arguments on both sides would have to be litigated from scratch. The academic-study distinction the U.S. Supreme Court drew in Abington School District v. Schempp, which struck down mandatory devotional Bible readings but preserved objective study of religious texts as part of a secular curriculum, still governs the federal side of that line.13Justia. Abington School District v. Schempp 374 US 203 (1963)
Oklahoma’s mandate did not exist in isolation. Utah signed a law requiring public schools to teach Bible passages cited or alluded to in founding documents, along with Bible stories that shaped colonial American political thought, for grades three through twelve, effective in the 2028–29 school year. Texas has incorporated Bible stories into its state-developed curriculum and included the Bible on proposed required reading lists.14Education Week. Another State Is Requiring Students to Study the Bible in School Oklahoma’s experience suggests that mandates with narrow specifications, no opt-out, and no neutrality safeguards draw the steepest legal and practical resistance.