Lawmaker calls for AG opinion, comprehensive investigation after Walters seeks state purchase of Bibles resembling Trump-promoted Bible
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A Republican Oklahoma lawmaker is calling for Attorney General guidance and a comprehensive legislative investigation on the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) after learning State Superintendent Ryan Walters wants to pull millions from OSDE’s payroll budget to buy thousands of Bibles matching a version being promoted former President Donald Trump.
Oklahoma State Rep. Mark McBride (R-Moore) formally requested Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond to issue an opinion on the legality of State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ attempt, as first reported by Oklahoma Watch, to use money the legislature appropriated OSDE to use payroll expenses, on Bibles instead.
In his Friday letter to Drummond, obtained by News 4, McBride wrote:
“Attorney General Drummond,
I am writing to request an Attorney General's Opinion related to the
recent actions of Oklahoma State Department of Education
"OSDE", specifically:
- Can OSDE move appropriated funds from one category of line items in Section 2 of SB 1122 "Limits Bill" to another category without legislative approval?
- Does the process outlined in Title 62, Section 34.52 apply to OSDE when moving funds from one appropriated line item category to another?
- Does Executive Order 2023-12 require that any expenditure by OSDE over $25,000 be approved by the Secretary of Education?
- Does Section 23 of SB1122 give the Attorney General to enforce any said parts of the Limits Bill.
Lastly, I have no problem with bibles in classrooms and libraries. Thank
you for your time and attention to this matter. I look forward to your
response.”
McBride told News 4 he believes Walters is beyond unfit to continue serving in his role.
“I've traveled to a lot of countries with a lot of dictators, you know, and spent some time… you know, it's just… it's just tyranny,” McBride said of Walters, a fellow Republican. “It's almost scary. I mean, that he thinks that he has the power that he does.”
McBride, who chairs the Oklahoma House Education Appropriations Committee which approves OSDE’s budget, says he was surprised to hear Walters claim at last month’s Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting that OSDE has $3 million set aside for Bibles in its current-year budget.
McBride says the budget that he and his colleagues in the legislature approved, didn’t include any line items mentioning bibles.
“$3 million for Bibles was never in that,” McBride said.
McBride was even more surprised this week when he saw a Friday report from Oklahoma Watch, which said Walters planned to pull the $3 million dollars from his staff’s payroll budget.
As News 4 has reported, more than 130 OSDE employees have resigned or retired since Walters took office.
McBride says that is unacceptable.
“We needed the staff,” he said. “They need to have the staff to operate efficiently. It's obvious they're not operating efficiency efficiently. I mean, we've got the SRO situation, we've got the inhaler fund, we've got the constant questions about federal funding… those are the taxpayers’ dollars. And you've got a legislature that determines where those tax dollars go.”
McBride points out, a bill he and his fellow legislators passed last year specifically bans OSDE from spending money appropriated for a certain purpose, on a different purpose.
“We didn't want a shell game,” McBride said. “And I think that's what's going on here… is we've got some kind of a shell game.”
That’s why, in what is likely one of his final official actions before he terms out of office next month, McBride sent that letter to Attorney General Drummond on Friday, asking Drummond to issue a formal opinion on whether Walters is legally allowed to do any of this.
“I hope the opinion will shed some light on you know, you can or can't do this,” McBride said.
Things don’t end there.
On Wednesday, OSDE published a bid solicitation seeking a vendor to supply 55,000 King James Bibles to place in Oklahoma public school classrooms.
The bid solicitation specified the bibles would need to include copies of the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution and Pledge of Allegiance.
The description OSDE included of the Bibles it is seeking in its bid solicitation closely matches the description of the ‘God Bless the U.S.A. Bible’ being promoted by former president Donald Trump.
“To craft an RFP and tailor for a certain thing that's questionable in itself right there,” McBride said. “I don't think you can do that.”
While McBride says he is not opposed to schools having Bibles available for students, as a practicing Christian, he finds the idea of adding additional documents to the Bible offensive.
“The Bible, in my opinion, is the inspired word of God,” McBride said. “Within that Bible, there needs to be nothing else but the word of God. And I think it says in Revelations, don't add to or take away from this. And I struggle with the fact that we think that we can add some kind of documents in into the text of the Bible. That that bothers me.
It’s why McBride is, once again, calling for a comprehensive investigation of OSDE.
He says the legislature needs to look deeper into the agency than a currently-underway investigation into limited aspects of OSDE’s finances by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT).
“There needs to be a full-fledged, total investigation into the Department of Ed, into their travel, every dollar they spent, the conduct and everything that's going on,” McBride said. “I find it very troublesome… I don't really know of anybody that is for this kind of behavior, even from [Walters’] own town.”
News 4 made numerous attempts this week to reach OSDE in order to include Walters and OSDE’s perspective in this report.
Nobody at OSDE responded to any of News 4’s numerous attempts to reach the department.