The order comes from a lawsuit filed by parents, faith leaders and advocacy organizations against Walters, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, the State Board of Education and the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which oversees purchasing contracts.
OMES asked the court to order it stop processing RFPs on classroom Bibles until a final ruling is decided. The suit’s petitioners joined OMES in that request and also asked for a stay of another RFP for Biblical instructional materials for elementary students.
The court granted both requests but held off ruling on the lawsuit’s main ask — to enjoin Walters and his agency from implementing any of his Bible education mandates. That call was deferred to the decisional stage.
The suit was filed in October to stop Walters’ June 2024 directive that requires Bibles in every classroom — or as was later clarified, some classrooms — and use them as an instructional resource. The mandate has garnered pushback from schools across the state.
Petitioners include Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU and ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
“Superintendent Ryan Walters has been abusing his power, and the court checked those abuses today,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “Our diverse coalition of families and clergy remains united against Walters’s extremism and in favor of a core First Amendment principle: the separation of church and state.”
The original RFP for classroom Bibles appeared to be narrowly tailored to Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA Bible, which is endorsed by President Donald Trump. That RFP was withdrawn, and the department filed an amended request that slightly widened the scope for the Bibles.
However, the department has continued to prefer the God Bless the USA Bibles, as evidenced by the purchase and disbursement of 500 of them to Oklahoma Advanced Placement U.S. Government classes. Because the 500 Bibles fell just under the purchasing threshold of $25,000, the department was not required to engage in a bidding process, thereby bypassing the RFP issue at the center of the lawsuit.
Walters also recently joined with Greenwood on a nationwide campaign for donations for Bibles in classrooms. That came one day after the State Senate rebuffed Walters’ budget request for $3 million for the purchase of classroom Bibles.
In a statement to StateImpact, Walters said the Bible is a “cornerstone” of the nation’s history.
“We will continue fighting to ensure students have access to this foundational text in the classroom,” Walters said.
UPDATE:
Wednesday, the lawsuit’s petitioners asked the court to intervene to stop the donation campaign for the God Bless the USA Bibles.
According to the filing, the petitioners say the campaign falls under the same scope as the lawsuit’s original ask.
“The campaign plainly implements the [Bible] mandate, which requires that physical copies of the Bible be placed in every public school classroom,” the filing said. “The campaign also involves the spending of state funds to further the mandate, including on the shipping expenses and OSDE employee time associated with distribution of Bibles.”
The filing argues OSDE lacks the statutory authority to distribute Bibles in schools, citing state law that prohibits the department from paying freight or transportation costs of textbooks. Additionally, it claims using public money or property for the support of any system of religion violates the Oklahoma Constitution.
“To be sure, private parties are free to offer donations of items — including Bibles — to school districts, but state officials cross the constitutional line when they organize, promote, and participate in a campaign to distribute donated copies of a particular religious text to schools,” the filing said.
It claims OSDE must also have approval from the State Board of Education to accept donations and cites a law it said was removed from OSDE’s website on Monday.
The petitioners asked the court to order that until final decision in the case is made, the respondents refrain from any action implementing the donation campaign and “engaging in, participating in, or facilitating” the distribution of classroom Bibles.
In addition, petitioners asked the court to issue a declaration that the campaign is unlawful, an injunction that prohibits OSDE from implementing the campaign, and to require OSDE to cancel the campaign.
Walters responded in a statement to StateImpact:
“No surprise that the same left-wing groups pushing state-sponsored atheism are attacking our work to get Bibles back in classrooms,” Walters said. “They’ve spent years trying to erase Bibles from our schools, and they can’t stand seeing parents and educators fighting back.”
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