OKLAHOMA CITY – More than a year after then-state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters said he would use millions of dollars of public money to purchase Christian Bibles for public schools, that plan has been shelved.
On Oct. 15, new Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Lindel Fields issued a media statement saying the Oklahoma State Department of Education had “no plans to distribute Bibles or biblical character education curriculum in classrooms.”
“If resources are left to be allocated, the timing is f ortunate,” Fields said. “Since the team and I are currently reviewing the budget.”
Fields’ statement came just days after the Oklahoma Supreme Court issued an order – signed by Chief Justice Dustin Rowe – which asked Fields to advise the court about his plans regarding the Bible distribution and the lawsuit it generated.
That lawsuit, filed last year, included 32 parents, students, teachers and faith leaders.
“The Court notes that the resignation of Superintendent Ryan Walters may ultimately lead to resolution of the pending litigation,” the high court’s order said. “Depending on his successor’s intentions concerning the Bible mandate and potential use of taxpayer money to buy Bibles.”
The court ordered Fields and the Education Department to respond to the order by 5 p.m. on Oct. 28 and give the court a status update about Fields’ intentions. “To the extent the new Superintendent intends to withdraw or rescind any or all of the above-mentioned directives and (request for proposals), now is the time to so ad vise the Court.”
The court’s order and Fields’ statement come less than a month after Walters resigned his post to tak e a job at a conservative think tank.
Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Fields as superintendent on Oct. 2.
Yet even though he is no longer the state’s common education chief, Walters posted a message on the networking site, X, last week saying he was disappointed by Fields’ action.
'I could not be more disappointed in the decision to move away from empowering our teachers in Oklahoma to use a foundational document like the Bible in the classroom,” Walters’ statement said. “The war on Christianity is real.”
Democrats praised Fields’ decision. In a media state ment issued Wednesday, John Waldron, chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, said Fields’ action was a victory for the separation of church and state.
“Hallelujah,” Waldron said. “A victory for separation of church and state and for protecting our kids’ right to pursue their own faith as individuals with their families.”
Teaching religion, Waldron said, is a personal conversation that should happen at home within families, not in school through government mandate. The issue, he said, is blatantly unconstitutional and Superintendent Fields was right to make this decision.
The proposal to put Bibles in public school classrooms has remained controversial. Last year Walters said schools would be required to have Bibles in classrooms and teachers would be required to teach about them.
In the fall of 2024, KOSU radio reported “that a survey published by StateImpact found among the 54 district superintendent respondents, about 90% say they are not changing their instructional practices to teach the Bible, and about two-thirds say they will not supply physical copies of the Bible.”