The public comment period is now open for Oklahoma’s proposed new academic standards for social studies that do not include several concepts championed by former state Superintendent Ryan Walters.
As posted to the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s website, the proposed new standards do not include Bible stories, nor do they call for students to “identify discrepancies in the 2020 election” or unproven theories about the origins of COVID-19.
Instead, students are tasked with examining political polarization and constitutional issues affiliated with the 2020 election, as well as the global impact of COVID-19.
The new proposed standards only include one reference to the Bible as part of a discussion of cultural changes during the late Middle Ages, including development of the printing press and translating documents as new forms of disseminating information.
Christianity appears three times in the publicly available draft: once in reference to European efforts to colonize North America and twice as part of a comparative framework for secondary students alongside other world religions, including Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
By comparison, the previous version had more than 40 references to the Bible, “Judeo-Christian values,” and Christianity.
Comments may be submitted via OSDE’s website through Feb. 18.
State statutes stipulate that academic standards for each discipline are to be reviewed every six years and are subject to approval by both the Oklahoma State Board of Education and the Oklahoma Legislature after a public comment period.
However, Oklahoma schools are currently relying on social studies standards last approved in 2019 after the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned standards that were approved during Walters’ tenure.
In December, the Oklahoma Supreme Court held in a 5-4 opinion that the Oklahoma State Board of Education did not provide sufficient notice under the Open Meeting Act about the content of the social studies standards that were up for consideration in February 2025 and ultimately approved by the Oklahoma Legislature.
The content regarding the 2020 presidential election was not included in the draft version reviewed by board members, was not referenced during discussion and a presentation on the new standards at the board’s Feb. 27, 2025, meeting, and was not posted to OSDE’s website until after the meeting.
