Oklahoma Supreme Court pauses Ryan Walters' attempt to buy Bibles, Bible-infused curriculum
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has halted so-called 'request for proposals' for Bibles and Bible curriculum for Oklahoma classrooms, but has left open the question about the constitutionality of state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters' Bible-teaching mandate for state schools.
The order, signed by Chief Justice Dustin Rowe, was issued Monday. In the past two weeks, there have been a flurry of filings in the lawsuit, which was originally filed Oct. 17.
The lawsuit asked the court to halt Walters' mandate, issued in June, and bar Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education from spending $3 million in state money on Bibles. The agency is attempting a second 'request for proposals' seeking bidders to provide Bibles for classrooms. The original request was written in such a way that very few versions of the Bible — namely one endorsed by President Donald Trump — appear to meet all the standards specified.
The state Office of Management and Enterprise Services, a defendant in the lawsuit, had asked the court to order it to stop working on processing two request for proposals, or RFPs, from the Oklahoma State Department of Education — one for the Bibles, a second for Bible-infused curriculum for elementary classrooms — until the court issues a final decision. The agency had told the plaintiffs it was legally obligated to proceed with processing the RFPs until a court directive ordering it to do otherwise is issued.
Rowe's decision said a ruling on the plaintiff's request to enjoin Walters from 'taking any other action to implement or enforce the Bible Education Mandate is deferred to the decisional stage.'
Walters' desire was to spend $3 million in money from the fiscal year that ended in June for Bibles — the current RFP — and $3 million from the current fiscal year for more Bibles. The Oklahoma Senate's education budget subcommittee didn't include the $3 million Walters requested for the current fiscal year in its recommendation for this year's state Education Department budget.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Supreme Court pauses Ryan Walters' attempt to buy Bibles
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