OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Supreme Court has temporarily blocked new social studies standards for K-12 public schools that include conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
The state’s high court issued the stay on Monday while a lawsuit against the standards moves forward. The order instructs the State Department of Education to keep the existing social studies standards in place until the case concludes.
At Superintendent Ryan Walters’ direction, the revised standards added new language about the 2020 election and claimed the COVID-19 virus came from a Chinese lab, among other changes.
Parents and educators filed a lawsuit in May, urging a judge to strike down the standards. They argued the revisions were not properly reviewed and “represent a distorted view of social studies that intentionally favors an outdated and blatantly biased perspective.”
Earlier this year, Republican leaders in the Oklahoma Legislature introduced a resolution to reject the standards, but it lacked enough GOP support to pass.
In a statement Tuesday, Walters called the Supreme Court “embarrassing” and accused it of being out of step with most Oklahomans.