In emails to Oklahoma teachers and parents on Monday, Oklahoma’s new Superintendent of Public Instruction provided details on the end of two controversial Ryan Walters policies.
Superintendent Lindel Fields announced last week that he would not move forward with Walters’ plans to require a Bible in every Oklahoma public school classroom. Today, he clarified that Bibles are still available in school libraries and on school computers.
“Last week’s decision does not remove Bibles from our schools,” Fields wrote. “It simply removes the expectation that teachers will use the Bible as curriculum for all grade levels and subjects.”
In his message to educators, Fields also clarified that the “America First Teacher Test” from PragerU is not a requirement for any Oklahoma teaching certification. In July, Walters announced he planned to require new teachers from states with “progressive education policies” to take the test, aiming to weed out “radical leftist ideology that California and New York have fostered.”
That test was later found to be impossible to fail.
Fields said he hopes to have answers about other Walters policies — new social studies standards and the elimination of state testing — in the “near future.” The Department of Education is also working to clarify the U.S. Naturalization Test requirement for teaching certifications, which went into effect Aug. 1.
Fields and Department of Education staff will present a new operating budget to the Board of Education on Thursday.
This article was originally published by KOSU, a partner of the Tulsa Flyer. You can see the original story here.
