Oklahoma County judge dismisses lawsuit that opposed social studies standards

OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma County district judge threw out a lawsuit challenging the validity of new academic standards for social studies.

District Judge Brent Dishman decided Friday that the group of parents, grandparents and teachers who filed the lawsuit failed to cite any applicable law or rule that was broken when the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved the new standards this year.

Final review of new academic standards, which mandate what topics Oklahoma public schools must teach, rests with the state Legislature, which permitted the new social studies standards to take effect, Dishman wrote.

Additionally, the plaintiffs’ case relied on a section of the Administrative Procedures Act that has no bearing on academic standards, the judge found. The plaintiffs contended the Oklahoma State Department of Education failed to follow proper transparency procedures when presenting the new standards to the state board.

They had asked the judge to invalidate the new standards, which they said “do not align with best practices” and “represent a distorted view of social studies.”

Former Attorney General Mike Hunter, who represents the plaintiffs, said he intends to promptly appeal the district judge’s decision to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

“This case is an important one for the Supreme Court to be the final word on,” Hunter said Monday afternoon. “It affects hundreds of thousands of young people in Oklahoma public schools. It deserves a review by the highest court in the state, and that’s what we’ll be seeking.”

The state Board of Education approved the new standards on Feb. 27, but half of its sitting members later said they had been unaware the Education Department added new language without drawing attention to it. 

The new language, which the Education Department didn’t publicly post or acknowledge until weeks after the board’s vote, cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 presidential election results.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters said the district court decision is a victory for pro-Bible and pro-America education. Along with the 2020 election language, the new standards require public schools to teach students Bible stories that influenced the country’s founders and culture.

“Oklahoma kids will be taught facts not indoctrination,” Walters said in a statement Monday. “They will be taught to critically think and not to become liberal activism.”