OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥� Oklahoma's top education official said he's teaming with in seeking donations to get $59.99 leather-bound 鈥淕od Bless the USA鈥� Bibles into classrooms throughout the state, after a legislative panel rejected his $3 million request to fund the effort.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters said this week that he's partnering with Greenwood to help ensure the Bibles, which have been , get to Oklahoma schools.
鈥淭he Bible is indispensable in understanding the development of Western civilization and American exceptionalism, history, and all similar subjects,鈥� Walters said in a statement. 鈥淭he ongoing attempts to remove it from our classrooms is an attack on the foundation of our country.鈥�
Walters' push to require public schools to begin for students in grades 5 through 12 from a group of public school parents and teachers. Many schools .
The directive is the latest salvo in an effort by conservative-led states to target public schools. Louisiana has required them to post the , while others are under pressure to and and lessons about race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Last year, the Oklahoma Supreme Court by the state to have the first publicly funded religious charter school in the country 鈥� a case that is .
A former public school teacher who was elected to his post in 2022, Walters ran on banning books from school libraries and getting rid of 鈥渞adical leftists鈥� who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms.
There are signs that even his Republican colleagues are growing tired of Walters' divisive brand of politics. Besides the legislative committee denying Walters' $3 million request to pay for the Bibles, Gov. Kevin Stitt recently to require schools to collect the immigration status of children.
When asked this week about Walters' Bible mandate, Stitt mentioned a free, popular Bible app created by Oklahoma pastor Bobby Gruenewald, and said: 鈥淚鈥檓 sure most kids have the Bible app on their phone."
Sean Murphy, The Associated Press
