State school board member, lawmakers raise legal concerns over Walters’ proposed Bible purchases
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma State School Board member and multiple state lawmakers voiced concerns Thursday after State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced he would like the state to give his agency an additional $3 million in taxpayer dollars to purchase New King James version Bibles to put in public school classrooms.
News 4’s cameras were rolling in the Oklahoma State School Board’s meeting room Thursday when Walters began the board’s monthly meeting by announcing he would be requesting the state legislature allot the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) an additional $3 million in next year’s budget to help OSDE purchase Bibles to put in Oklahoma public school classrooms.
Walters said the $3 million he was requesting would add to an existing $3 million he claimed OSDE has already allotted for Bibles, for a total of $6 million.
“We’ve talked about the efforts of left-wing groups and the teacher’s unions to drive the bible out of school,” Walters said in his opening remarks Thursday. “This would give us the ability to utilize $6 million in less than two years to ensure that the Bible hasn’t been driven out of Oklahoma classrooms, and would be a significant step for the State of Oklahoma to ensure that we’re not allowing the left to censor American history.”
Walters said the Bibles would strictly be given to teachers to use as a tool when teaching about the Bible in its context as a historical document.
He said any Bibles placed in classrooms would not be allowed to include additional text with commentary, notations or interpretations on what is written in the bible.
However, Walters added it would be acceptable to him for copies of the Bible in classrooms to include historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution or Magna Carta.
He told state school board members he specifically wants the state to purchase copies of the ‘New King James’ version of the Bible, because he believed it would best represent the beliefs of America’s founding fathers when they signed documents like the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights in the 1700s.
The New King James version of the Bible was first published in 1982.
Additionally, Walters claimed the New King James version is the most commonly-cited version of the Bible in history textbooks.
“I believe that the New King James is the version that we should go with, because when we looked at citations, quotations… overwhelmingly … we had a study—and I can provide it for the board—that the vast majority of textbooks of American history that use quotations from American history is citing the King James version,” Walters told board members.
But not every state school board member was comfortable with moving forward just with the purchase just yet.
“I personally am not of the exact same religion as everybody else who may be considering this type of thing,” Oklahoma State School Board Member Sarah Lepak said. “And so it’s personally important to me to make sure we have this right.”
Lepak asked OSDE’s legal counsel that was present at the meeting, if the board approving such a purchase could be unconstitutional, and possibly lead to legal action being taken against the board.
“I do think there is some concern, and I think I have some concern about… are we opening the door to… something like that actually happening, or some kind of constitutional challenge,” Lepak said. “I don’t want to be on the back end of a decision saying ‘well this is constitutional and it’s fine.’ I want to know on the front end…I am very uncomfortable with any type of idea about proselytizing or establishing some kind of state religion. Doing things that may end up favoring one religion over another.”
OSDE’s legal counsel, attorney Michael Beason, told Lepak—in his opinion—past U.S. supreme court decisions have set a precedent that it would be constitutional for a state to purchase copies of the Bible for schools to use to teach about the book in its context as a historical document.
In support of his argument, Beason also cited an Oklahoma state statute which allows government bodies to display documents including the Ten Commandments, Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence and other historical documents on public grounds.
Beason told Lepak he would write a formal memo detailing his legal argument and provide it to the board by next month’s meeting.
Whether or not Beason’s argument may hold legal merit, State Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman) said the U.S. Constitution is not the only constitution the state school board needs to consider when making its decision.
“Oklahoma's constitution specifically says that the state Board of Education cannot do what they are trying to do,” Boren said. “The Oklahoma provision in our Constitution establishes a higher bar of separation of church and state.”
She specifically points to Article II-VI of Oklahoma’s constitution, which says:
“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”
Additionally, Boren argues by favoring the New King James version, the state is not only leaving out not only people who don’t follow Christianity, but also leaving out most Christians who do follow the new King James version.
“I think it's also important to say that the New King James version, a lot of conservative people do not see that the best version,” Boren said. “There are people that think that the old King James version is the real version. So there's a lot of disagreement. Also, the Life Church pastor, Craig Groschel, he endorsed the NIV—the New International Version. Some say the English standard version is actually the more accurate version. That includes the Dead Sea Scrolls. So picking one version above all else is actually very controversial even within Christianity. And to not include the Catholic Bible seems very odd to me since most of the Western civilization, you know, the artworks and things that they that the State Board of Education is referring to in their guidelines and their standards, they say, and claim that their goal is to promote the influence of the Bible on history and culture and literature and art. Well, that Bible influenced the Michelangelo's Works of art. That was the Latin Catholic Bible. It was not the King James version Bible. So there's a lot of inconsistency.”
Beyond the state constitution, Boren believes Walters’ recommended purchase would violate the U.S. Constitution too.
“Today that what the State Board of Education did is it established a religion by elevating one particular version of the Bible above all else,” Boren said.
Ultimately, Boren believes this is all part of a larger goal.
“It shows me that they're trying to make the United States Supreme Court overturn a provision within [Oklahoma’s] Constitution,” Boren said. “So they're trying to find a different test case that will end up in the United States Supreme Court.”
Oklahoma House Democratic Leader Rep. Cyndi Munson (D-Oklahoma City) released the following statement Thursday, also raising concerns over Walters' request:
The State Superintendent continues to ignore the Oklahoma Constitution. He wants to use millions in public taxpayer dollars to fund religion in public schools—something the majority of Oklahomans are adamantly against—while Oklahoma public schools remain some of the most underfunded public schools in the nation. Oklahoma ranks 45th in the United States for per-student expenditures and Oklahoma public school teachers are paid more than $10,000 less than the national average salary for public school teachers. There are major gaps in funding public education in Oklahoma, and yet the State Superintendent continues to abandon the needs of our public school districts to push for policies that do not benefit teachers, students, or families. He has and continues to fail us and our public schools.
State Rep. Cyndi Munson (D-Oklahoma City)