Do not fault Oklahoma State Supt. Ryan Walters’s competence. His past disservice as the governor’s education czar and his campaign for office told us that his goal was to destroy public education in Oklahoma.
With the state ranked 49th in Wallet Hub’s July educational assessment, the annual new record for unaccredited teachers in the classrooms, his campaign to give tax money to indoctrinating churches and the decimation of the state’s education department workforce, he has accomplished what he pledged to do.
Thank you, straight-ticket Republicans.
Basking in his success at failing Oklahoma students and the publicity he gets from attacking teachers and school districts who disagree with him – and from the $60,000 state-funded PR contract to get him national attention – Walters has upped his campaign to join a possible Trump administration by crafting a state bid that could buy the affection of his convicted felon candidate.
In late September, Walters added $3 million to his proposed budget to arrive at a total of $6 million he wants to spend to put Bibles in Oklahoma schools.
How much state legislators leave in his proposed budget remains to be seen.
Though he had earlier expressed a preference for the New King James Version of the Bible, the official bid Walters produced last week switched back to the original King James Version. First printed in 1611, it has long been out of copyright. Thus it can be printed at minimum cost. The folks at Oklahoma Watch found “paperback versions of the New King James Version are available online for $2.99 each.”
But, Walters decreed that along with the Old and New Testaments, “The supplier’s Bible must include copies of The United States Pledge of Allegiance, The U.S. Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution, and The U.S. Bill of Rights.”
Those additional requirements are quite specific, and, of course, most Bibles do not include them. But, there is one that does.
A certain uncertain Donald J. Trump now shills for Lee Greenwood’s God Bless The USA Bible. For $59.95 Trump acolytes can buy a Bible that also includes copies of the Declaration of Independence (where the Creator is not the Christian God), the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights (which establishes a separation of church and state) and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Quite a convenient compatibility of state requirements and one particular Bible, the sale of which would benefit the candidate Walters endorsed early in the campaign.
That $59.95 list price is not all-inclusive. A reporter who ordered this Bible said the final cost, including shipping and handling, was more than $80.
The watchers at Oklahoma Watch cite Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as finding that Trump has already received $300,000 in huckstering royalties from the God Bless the USA Bible.
The official state bid for classroom Bibles stipulates, “The supplier must provide 55,000 Bibles.” Oklahoma Watch reports that there are 43,000 classrooms in the state.
Well, we should expect that an anti-education educator might have some mathematical deficiencies. Maybe that’s why he “lowered the amount of knowledge students had to demonstrate in order to score at a proficient level this year,” according to Oklahoma Voice.
That’s an Oklahoma standard for raising educational standards. Lower the proficiency requirements; don’t invest in raising student achievement. Indoctrinate the kids instead.
Stephens County Democrats will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. in Room 508 of the Morris Building at Red River Vo-Tech on West Bois D’Arc.
(Gary Edmondson is chair of the Stephens County Democratic Party: <scdpok.us> or <facebook.com/SCDPOK/>.)