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The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office says Oklahoma school districts cannot be forced to show or disseminate a video featuring a prayer for President-elect Donald Trump. In an email, spokesman Phil Bacharach said Friday afternoon that the Oklahoma State Department of Education and state Superintendent Ryan Walters do not have the authority to require schools to show students a video in which Walters touts the recently formed Office of Religious Freedom and Patriotism , then encourages students to join him in a prayer that specifically names the once and future president. An email accompanying the video link instructed school superintendents on Thursday to show the video to every enrolled student and send it out to all parents.
“There is no statutory authority for the state schools superintendent to require all students to watch a specific video,” Bacharach wrote. “Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights.” People are also reading.
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In an email to parents obtained by the Tulsa World, Owasso Public Schools Superintendent Margaret Coates wrote that her district will remain focused on its current curriculum and has “no plans to interrupt the instructional day to show or send this video.” That sentiment was echoed in a written statement from Tulsa Public Schools. “Every day, we are working hard and focusing 100% on advancing the success of students in Tulsa Public Schools.
This includes focusing our energy and resources on established, approved curriculum and lesson plans, both determined well in advance. Any deviation from those plans would be made after consultation and guidance from our locally elected school board. At this time, we have no plans to reconfigure our existing lesson plans or divert valuable instruction time.
” The agency touted in the video, the Office of Religious Freedom and Patriotism was announced Tuesday and is tasked with charged with “promoting religious liberty and patriotism in Oklahoma” and oversee any investigations into allegations of abuse of either notion. “Freedom to pray” is among the education policy tenets listed by Trump’s re-election campaign. To date, OSDE has provided little information about the new office, including its budget and its funding source.
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