On October 17, 2024, FFRF and a coalition filed a petition on behalf of Oklahoma families with the Oklahoma Supreme Court to block State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters’ mandate that all public schools incorporate the bible into their curricula. Additionally, the petition asked the court to stop the state from spending millions of taxpayer dollars on bibles to support the mandate.
On June 27, 2024, Ryan Walters issued a mandate that would require every public school in Oklahoma to incorporate the bible into the curriculum for grades 5-12. He requested $3 million in taxpayer money to purchase a version of the King James Bible. The edition he requested includes the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Pledge of Allegiance, and Bill of Rights.
The petition asserted that the bible-education mandate violated the Oklahoma Constitution’s religious freedom protections. This is because the government spent public money to support religion, as well as favoring one religion over others by requiring the use of a Protestant version of the bible. Additionally, the mandate violated the Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act and other state statutes. This was because officials did not follow required rules for adopting new policies and for spending public money.
On March 10, 2025, the Court put on hold Walters’ attempts to spend state funds to buy bibles and supplemental instructional materials that integrate the bible. On March 12, 2025, we asked the Court to halt a scheme by Walters to distribute to public schools donated copies of entertainer Lee Greenwood and Donald Trump’s “God Bless the USA Bibles.”
Ryan Walters resigned from office in September 2025. Thankfully, his successor, Superintendent Lindel Fields, abandoned many of Walters’ planned efforts. These included, incorporting the bible into the public-school curriculum, placing bibles in classrooms, and buying bibles and biblical-instructional materials with state tax dollars and distribute them to public schools. On November 24, 2025, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed our case as moot, confirming that Walters’ policies had been “resci[nded] and nullifi[ed].”
There were thirty-two plaintiffs, including fourteen public school parents, four public school teachers and three faith leaders. They were represented by FFRF, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU, the ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, and Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. FFRF Senior Counsel Samuel Grover and FFRF Legal Director Patrick Elliott served as co-counsel on the case.
