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A group of parents, grandparents and teachers on Wednesday have filed a legal challenge to the newly adopted social studies standards. They want a judge to throw the standards out.
The plaintiffs include teachers in Enid and Putnam City and parents or grandparents with children attending Oklahoma City, Enid, Deer Creek and Broken Arrow schools. They are represented by Mike Hunter, who served as Oklahoma attorney general from 2017 to 2021.
The lawsuit alleges the process of adopting the standards was flawed and illegitimate. The plaintiffs want the court to review the circumstances surrounding the Board of Education’s approval of the standards and subsequent submittal to the Legislature.
The standards took effect automatically after the Legislature took no action to reject them. Hunter said he plans to file for a temporary restraining order to block them.
Some of the board members said they were unaware the version they were voting on had been significantly changed from the version posted publicly. The changes include claims that COVID-19 originated from a Chinese lab and that the 2020 elections involved discrepancies (judges have since ruled the election claims unfounded.)
Board members received a final version for review at 4 p.m. the day before the meeting, which started at 9:30 a.m. The changes in that version were not highlighted and were not mentioned during the meeting. One board member asked for more time but was rebuffed.
“The standards they were voting on weren’t the standards that were being represented to the public,” Hunter said. “There was definitely a delta between what was online and what was before the board.”
The state Board of Education approved the standards Feb. 27 by a 5-1 vote.
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— Jennifer Palmer
Recommended Reading
- Oklahoma’s per pupil spending is now last among surrounding states and average teacher compensation slipped to 38th in the nation, new data shows. [Tulsa World]
- Where’s the article? Metro Family Magazine’s What’s Right with Our Schools article had to be removed before publication, as schools fear backlash, even sharing success stories. [Metro Family Magazine]
- Superintendent Ryan Walters’ controversial immigration proposal hit a significant roadblock in the Legislature. [The Oklahoman]
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