Oklahoma high school students will soon be taught that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump—even though this claim has been widely debunked.
The new rule is part of updated social studies standards pushed by Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters, a staunch Trump supporter.
Walters has ordered every public school classroom in the state to have a Bible, specifically the God Bless The USA Bible, which is endorsed by Trump.
Highlights
- Oklahoma has mandated teaching that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
- Superintendent Ryan Walters will require the Bible in every public school classroom.
- New social studies standards promote conservative views, including claims of election fraud, COVID-19 origins, and praise of Trump.
- Critics, including Democrats and some Republicans, say the curriculum politicizes education and contains historically inaccurate content.
New guidelines require schools to teach that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump
Image credits: The White House/Flickr
“These reforms will reset our classrooms back to educating our children without liberal indoctrination,” Walters, a former history teacher, posted on X.
“We’re proud to defend these standards, and we will continue to stand up for honest, pro-America education in every classroom.”
The new reforms require students to analyze the 2020 election and “identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends,” the guidelines read.
But these claims are not based on facts.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in 2020 that the election was “the most secure in American history.”
Even former Trump attorney general William Barr said the FBI had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.”
Walters developed the new curriculum with help from other MAGA figures like Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts and PragerU founder Dennis Prager.
Image credits: Ryan Walters/Facebook
PragerU is a right-wing nonprofit advocacy and media organization that has faced criticism for pushing false or misleading content on topics like LGBTQ+ issues, slavery, racism, and climate change.
The curriculum changes don’t stop at the 2020 election. They include claims that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab.
Trump is also praised for the “successful avoidance of new wars” in the section of the guidelines discussing Trump’s first term.
Learning about the previous presidents includes topics such as “examples of heroism and efforts to combat terrorism” by President George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11.
The curriculum highlights the conservative Tea Party movement when introducing President Barack Obama, and asks the students to note the challenges of the Affordable Care Act.
Critics say the changes promote a political agenda, not better education.
“Right now, the state superintendent is not focused on improving education outcomes or increasing funding for our public schools,” Oklahoma Democratic House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson said during a press conference.
“Instead, he’s solely focused on boosting his own partisan political agenda with these social studies standards,” she said.
Heather Goodenough, president of the Oklahoma Council for Social Studies, wrote in a public statement: “Many of the late additions include historically inaccurate content and do not align with the inclusive, evidence-based approach that is essential to high-quality social studies instruction.”
Some Republicans are also challenging the move.
Former Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter filed a lawsuit on behalf of teachers and families, contending that the new curriculum “directly harms” students without following best practices, and should be “invalid, null and void.”
Despite the pushback, Walters is pushing for more religious studies in schools.
Ryan Walters also wants every classroom to feature the Trump-endorsed ‘God Bless The USA Bible’
Image credits: Ryan Walters/Facebook
In 2024, he ordered that the Bible and Ten Commandments be taught in grades 5 through 12. Now he says every classroom will have a Bible, even though the state legislature refused his $3 million funding request.
“We’re going to have a Bible in every classroom this fall. That’s going to happen,” Walters said at a press conference on May 16.
Supporters of the curriculum say it will promote patriotism and critical thinking.
“I’m very impressed with the fact that this is made specifically to create critical thinkers,” Sarah Parshall Perry, vice president and legal fellow at the conservative nonprofit organization Defending Education, said in a Fox News interview. “And don’t we need more of that in American education?”
Image credits: RyanWalters
Joe Biden won the 2020 election with 306 electoral votes and over 7 million more votes than Trump. Courts rejected over 60 lawsuits from Trump, out of which 30 were rejected “on merit,” including the facts and circumstances of the complaint.
Audits and recounts in several states confirmed Biden’s victory. Yet Trump and many Republicans continue to push the claim that the election was stolen.
Oklahoma is a conservative state, with 51.7% of voters registered as Republicans and 28.4% of voters registered as Democrats, according to January 2024 figures.
Some 66% of Oklahoma voters supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, according to the Oklahoma State Election Board.
Walters was previously a history teacher in Oklahoma for eight years and served as the CEO of the nonprofit public charity Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, which runs education programs.
He also supports the idea of religious charter schools—a movement which has been blocked by the Supreme Court because it violates the separation between state and church.