{"id":190110,"date":"2024-10-03T15:22:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T19:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/?post_type=press_release&#038;p=190110"},"modified":"2024-10-03T15:48:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T19:48:54","slug":"civil-rights-orgs-seek-records-related-to-ok-state-department-of-education-spending-millions-on-bibles","status":"publish","type":"press_release","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/civil-rights-orgs-seek-records-related-to-ok-state-department-of-education-spending-millions-on-bibles","title":{"rendered":"Civil Rights Organizations Seek Records Related to Oklahoma State Department of Education Spending Millions on Bibles"},"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-190110","press_release","type-press_release","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subheading":"","date_and_time":"2024-10-03 15:22:09","featured_image":"","show_on_press_releases_landing_page":true,"components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Today, a coalition of civil rights organizations is making a <a href=\"https:\/\/assets.aclu.org\/live\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Okla-Records-Request-re-spending-on-Bibles-10.3.24.pdf\">joint request<\/a> for additional records related to Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters\u2019s recent mandate to inject the Bible into public school teaching.\r\n\r\nIn particular, the organizations are seeking records related to Walters\u2019s announced funding for the mandate, made at a September 26 meeting where the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a $3 million budget request for the 2025-26 fiscal year \u201cto provide Bibles to the Oklahoma classrooms.\u201d Walters said this \u201c$3 million-dollar ask \u2026 would be in conjunction with the $3 million dollars that we\u2019re putting forth currently to provide Bibles in the classroom. So this would give us the ability to utilize $6 million dollars in less than two years to ensure that the Bible hasn\u2019t been driven out of Oklahoma classrooms.\u201d\r\n\r\nAmericans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, and Freedom From Religion Foundation are requesting that the Oklahoma State Department of Education provide all records of expenditures during the current fiscal year related to the provision of Bibles for Oklahoma public school classrooms, including communications, contracts, invoices, receipts and payment records. The organizations have asked for a response by October 17, 2024.\r\n\r\nThe organizations on July 26 also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.au.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Oklahoma-Records-Request-on-Bible-Directive-7.26.24.pdf\">requested records<\/a> relating to Walters\u2019s June 27 directive that all Oklahoma school districts incorporate the Bible \u201cas an instructional support into the curriculum\u201d for grades five through 12; his July 9 news release about \u201ca complete overhaul\u201d to the state\u2019s social studies standards to \u201cincorporate the introduction of the Bible as an instructional resource\u201d; and the July 24 memorandum disseminated to all school districts providing guidance on the implementation of his Bible-instruction mandate. The State Department of Education has not produced the requested records yet.\r\n\r\nThe requests are made in the public interest, so that the organizations and their Oklahoma members can determine whether those entrusted with government power are honestly, faithfully, and competently performing their duties as public servants.\r\n\r\n\u201cOklahoma taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll Superintendent Walters\u2019s Christian nationalist agenda,\u201d said <b>Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United<\/b>. \u201cHis latest scheme \u2013 to mandate use of the Bible in Oklahoma public school curriculum \u2013 is a transparent, unlawful effort to indoctrinate and religiously coerce public school students. Not on our watch. Public schools are not Sunday schools.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cAll Oklahoma students deserve to learn in an inclusive environment free from religious proselytization,\u201d said <b>Megan Lambert, legal director of the ACLU of Oklahoma<\/b>. \u201cNot only should taxpayers be concerned that the state is spending millions of dollars of their money on religious texts, but religious institutions should also be concerned that Oklahoma is attempting to supplant their role as a religious authority.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cPublic schools are a cornerstone of our democracy and must serve all students, regardless of faith,\u201d said <b>Dan Mach, director of the ACLU\u2019s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief<\/b>. \u201cDiverting millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase Bibles is nothing more than a blatant attempt to divide Oklahomans along religious lines and undermine the public school system.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cEvery Oklahoman, whether Christian, nonreligious, or part of a minority religion, should be outraged at Walters\u2019 attempts to push his personal religious beliefs onto other people's children,\u201d noted <b>FFRF Senior Counsel Sam Grover<\/b>. \"Mandating the use of bibles in public schools is an extreme abuse of government power.\""}}],"drupal_node_id":"","email":"media@aclu.org","phone":"(212) 549-2666","address":{"address_1":"125 Broad Street","address_2":"18th Floor","city":"New York","state":"NY","zip_code":10004,"country":"United States"},"pgp_public_key":"","issues":[46491,46493,46695],"press_releases_related_to_cases":"","spokesperson":[592],"related_affiliates":[372],"related_content_documents":"","related_content_publications":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Civil Rights Organizations Seek Records Related to Oklahoma State Department of Education Spending Millions on Bibles | American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/civil-rights-orgs-seek-records-related-to-ok-state-department-of-education-spending-millions-on-bibles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Civil Rights Organizations Seek Records Related to Oklahoma State Department of Education Spending Millions on Bibles | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/civil-rights-orgs-seek-records-related-to-ok-state-department-of-education-spending-millions-on-bibles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-03T19:48:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/civil-rights-orgs-seek-records-related-to-ok-state-department-of-education-spending-millions-on-bibles\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/civil-rights-orgs-seek-records-related-to-ok-state-department-of-education-spending-millions-on-bibles\",\"name\":\"Civil Rights Organizations Seek Records Related to Oklahoma State Department of Education Spending Millions on Bibles | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-03T19:22:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-03T19:48:54+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/civil-rights-orgs-seek-records-related-to-ok-state-department-of-education-spending-millions-on-bibles\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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