After a year of controversy and upheaval, a more neutral set of academic standards for social studies instruction will advance to the state Legislature after receiving approval from the Oklahoma State Board of Education.
The board voted unanimously Thursday in favor of social studies standards that exclude Bible lessons and polarizing takes on COVID-19 and the 2020 presidential election.
State academic standards mandate what topics public schools must teach to students in each class subject and grade level.
Standards approved last year for social studies courses would have required schools to teach stories from the Bible, the teachings of Jesus, a disputed claim that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab and alleged “discrepancies” in the results of the 2020 presidential election, which critics called misinformation.
That content caused significant controversy, especially because former state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ administration added some of it the day before the state Board of Education was set to vote on the standards. Half of the sitting board members later said they had no idea until after the vote that the controversial content had been inserted.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court decided the last-minute additions violated state open meeting laws and nullified Walters’ standards.
The Education Department, now led by state Superintendent Lindel Fields, released a new draft of the social studies standards on Jan. 29 that deleted references to Bible stories, Jesus and the polarizing content. The new standards, available for public comment until late February, otherwise resembled the version Walters’ administration developed.
Public input prompted “minor” changes from Fields’ first draft to the one the board approved Thursday, he said after the meeting.
“You’ll see some changes, but none that will surprise you,” Fields said.
The agency publicly posted the final version 24 hours before the meeting, but changes from the previous draft aren’t highlighted. The board-approved version still excludes the controversial content and Bible lessons, though it contains references to Christianity and other world religions, an Oklahoma Voice review found.
The Education Department held briefings on the standards with state board members in advance of Thursday’s meeting. Member Chris Van Denhende, who was part of last year’s vote, said the board spent “a tremendous amount of time” reviewing the final draft.
“I appreciate the openness,” he said during the meeting. “Unlike last time, we had access to public comments. We had access to side-by-side (comparisons). We had access to changes. So, it was very beneficial.”
The standards now continue to the Oklahoma Legislature, which could accept, reject or amend them with a joint resolution. If lawmakers don’t pass a resolution, the standards would take effect as written, according to state law.
Public schools could begin teaching the standards in the 2026-27 academic year, if the Legislature permits, and districts could purchase textbooks aligned with the standards in July 2027, according to an Oklahoma State Department of Education timeline.
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