OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥 Oklahoma high school students studying U.S. history learn about the Industrial Revolution, women鈥檚 suffrage and America’s expanding role in international affairs.
Beginning next school year, they will add conspiracy theories about the .
Oklahoma鈥檚 new social studies standards for K-12 public school students, already infused with references to the Bible and national pride, were revised at the direction of state School Superintendent The Republican official has spent much of his first term in office lauding , feuding with teachers unions and local school superintendents, and trying to end what he describes as 鈥渨okeness鈥 in public schools.
鈥淭he left has been pushing left-wing indoctrination in the classroom,鈥 Walters said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e moving it back to actually understanding history ... and I鈥檓 unapologetic about that.鈥
The previous standard for studying the 2020 election merely said, 鈥淓xamine issues related to the election of 2020 and its outcome.” The new version is more expansive: 鈥淚dentify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of 鈥榖ellwether county鈥 trends.鈥
The new standard raised red flags even among Walters’ fellow Republicans, including the governor and legislative leaders. They were concerned that several last-minute changes, including the language about the 2020 election and a provision stating the source of the COVID-19 virus was a Chinese lab, were added just hours before the state school board voted on them.
A group of parents and educators have asking a judge to reject the standards, arguing they were not reviewed properly and that they 鈥渞epresent a distorted view of social studies that intentionally favors an outdated and blatantly biased perspective.鈥
GOP lawmakers can’t muster enough support to reject the new standards
While many Oklahoma teachers have expressed outrage at the change in the standards, others say they leave plenty of room for an effective teacher to instruct students about the results of the 2020 election without misinforming them.
Aaron Baker, who has taught U.S. government in high schools in Oklahoma City for more than a decade, said he鈥檚 most concerned about teachers in rural, conservative parts of the state who might feel encouraged to impose their own beliefs on students.
鈥淚f someone is welcoming the influence of these far-right organizations in our standards and is interested in inserting more of Christianity into our practices as teachers, then they鈥檝e become emboldened,鈥 Baker said. 鈥淔or me, that is the major concern.鈥
Leaders in the Republican-led Oklahoma Legislature introduced a resolution to reject the standards, but there wasn鈥檛 enough GOP support to pass it.
Part of that hesitation likely stemmed from a flurry of last-minute opposition organized by pro-Trump conservative groups such as , which has a large presence in Oklahoma and threatened lawmakers who reject the standards with a primary opponent.
鈥淚n the last few election cycles, grassroots conservative organizations have flipped seats across Oklahoma by holding weak Republicans accountable,鈥 the group wrote in a letter signed by several other conservative groups and GOP activists. 鈥淚f you choose to side with the liberal media and make backroom deals with Democrats to block conservative reform, you will be next.鈥
Superintendent says his new standards ‘encourage critical thinking’
After a group of parents, educators and other Oklahoma school officials worked to develop the new social studies standards, Walters assembled an executive committee consisting mostly of out-of-state pundits from conservative think-tanks to revise them. He said he wanted to focus more on American exceptionalism and as an instructional resource.
Among those Walters appointed to the review committee are Kevin Roberts, the president of The Heritage Foundation and a key figure in its Project 2025 blueprint for a conservative administration, and Dennis Prager, a radio talk show host who founded Prager U, a conservative nonprofit that offers 鈥減ro-American鈥 educational materials for children that some critics say are not accurate or objective.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Walters defended teaching students about 鈥渦nprecedented and historically significant鈥 elements of the 2020 presidential election.
“The standards do not instruct students on what to believe; rather, they encourage critical thinking by inviting students to examine real events, review publicly available information, and come to their own conclusions,鈥 he said.
, and in the were Trump contested his loss all confirmed , and Trump challenging the results.
Critics say Walters’ new standard is filled with misleading phrasing that seeks to steer the discussion in particular direction.
Democrats characterized it as another political ploy by Walters, widely viewed as a potential candidate for governor in 2026, at the expense of school children.
鈥淚t’s harmful posturing and political theater that our kids do not need to be subjected to,鈥 said Sen. Mark Mann, a Democrat from Oklahoma City who previously served on the school board for one of the state’s largest districts.
Concerns about politicizing school standards
National experts on education standards also expressed alarm, noting that Oklahoma has among the states for its standards.
Brendan Gillis, the director of teaching and learning at the American Historical Association who oversaw a research project that analyzed standards in all 50 states, said Oklahoma鈥檚 social studies standards had been 鈥渜uite good鈥 until the latest version.
In addition to concerns about election misinformation, Gillis added: 鈥淭here was also a lot of biblical content that was sort of shoehorned in throughout the existing standards.鈥
He said a lot of the references to Christianity and the Bible misinterpreted the history of the country’s founding and lacked historical nuance.
David Griffith, a research director at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning education think-tank, said he was not aware of any other states that have tried to promote election misinformation in their curriculum standards.
He called the new standards an 鈥渦nfortunate鈥 departure from Oklahoma’s traditionally strong social studies standards.
鈥淚t is just inappropriate to promote conspiracy theories about the election in standards,鈥 he said.
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Associated Press writer Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
