OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (NewsNation) — Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction has vowed to “fix America’s schools” and add more religious teachings in the classroom.
Ryan Walters, a Republican firebrand, has burst onto the scene as a divisive figure in the Oklahoma education system, which has emerged as a ground zero in the battle over religion and education.
But critics say Walters is blurring the lines between church and state, while supporters believe his ideologies could catch on in other states with conservative education leaders.
“As a public school teacher, I’ve seen the propaganda Democrats want in our schools. It’s sick,” Walters said. “As state superintendent, I’ll crack down on their anti-American curriculum.”
It has been seven months since Walters was sworn in as Oklahoma superintendent. And since then, he’s turned a largely bureaucratic post into one promoting conservative — and sometimes controversial — policies, like calling for prayers in public schools and displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
“What some folks are trying to do is use the public school system as a vehicle to promote a certain type of faith and it’s usually very conservative, evangelical fundamentalist, Christianity,” Robert Boston, a senior advisor for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said.
The former high school history teacher also helped approve the country’s first publicly funded, religious charter school — one that’s now facing a legal challenge.
The nonprofit, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is part of a group that filed a lawsuit last month to stop the city’s archdiocese from opening the virtual Catholic charter school.
“What some officials in Oklahoma are trying to do is to create some kind of a bizarre hybrid where a school can be public and religious at the same time and that simply can’t be,” Boston said. “We don’t believe that Oklahoma state law or the Oklahoma constitution permits the creation of a school like this and we’re going to bring that in and make the best arguments we can because we think it’s pretty obvious it’s illegal.”
Walters has also proposed rules to ban books with “sexually explicit” material and LGBTQIA+ titles. In addition, he’s opposed to teaching critical race theory in schools.
Now, Walters is threatening to downgrade the Tulsa Public Schools system’s accreditation over allegedly poor academic performance.
TPS Chief Deborah Gist announced she’s stepping aside in a bid to stop the state from taking over Oklahoma’s largest school district.
But Oklahoma isn’t the only state promoting religious views in school.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed a bill that would allow schools to hire religious counselors or chaplains.
In Florida, the Miami-Dade school board gave the green light to commemorate the national day of prayer in public schools. Earlier this year, Kentucky lawmakers signed a bill protecting the religious freedoms of teachers, faculty and staff.