Oklahoma education standards say students must identify 2020 election 'discrepancies'

Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, seen present successful 2023, has championed the caller authorities acquisition standards that see instructions for students to "identify discrepancies successful 2020 predetermination results." Sue Ogrocki/AP hide caption

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Sue Ogrocki/AP

TULSA, Okla. — New world standards successful Oklahoma telephone for the teaching of "discrepancies" successful the 2020 predetermination results, continuing the dispersed of a mendacious communicative years aft it was archetypal pushed by President Trump and his allies.

The standards were enacted past period aft the Republican-controlled legislature declined to artifact them. And portion the process to beforehand the standards has drawn ire from members of Oklahoma's bulk party, the question of the standards' contented has gotten small pushback.

What the standards accidental — and however they took effect

The societal studies modular for precocious schoolhouse U.S. past references baseless claims astir the ballot counting process and the information of message voting.

It says students must: "Identify discrepancies successful 2020 elections results by looking astatine graphs and different information, including the abrupt halting of ballot-counting successful prime cities and successful cardinal battleground states, the information risks of mail-in balloting, abrupt batch dumps, an unforeseen grounds fig of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of 'bellwether county' trends."

The caller standards person been championed by Ryan Walters, the authorities superintendent of nationalist acquisition and a blimpish firebrand.

"These caller standards volition guarantee that kids person an close and broad presumption of humanities events, portion besides reinforcing the values that marque our state great," Walters said astatine a February State Board of Education meeting.

The caller standards were quietly introduced conscionable hours earlier that February meeting, and Walters falsely told committee members that to marque legislative deadlines, the standards needed to beryllium approved that day. They were.

New committee members spent the adjacent 2 months asking the authorities legislature to instrumentality the standards backmost to the board, saying determination had not been capable clip to reappraisal the changes.

Citing that rushed process, Senate Republicans authored a associated solution to cull the standards, and GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt besides requested the legislature nonstop the standards backmost to the board.

But successful April, aft a closed-door gathering with Walters, the authorities legislature declined to artifact the standards.

Oklahoma Republicans, similar House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, person defended the standards' content.

"I deliberation that students should beryllium challenged to deliberation critically astir that peculiar predetermination and what led to that high turnout arsenic good arsenic all the reforms that you saw states pass successful the aftermath of that," Hilbert said astatine a March property conference. "So I deliberation if you're going to speech astir the 2020 election, that's a centerpiece of the conversation, of challenging students to deliberation critically astir those important questions."

Navigating teaching mendacious predetermination claims

Others accidental captious reasoning is not what the standards prescribe students to do.

Anton Schulzki, the interim enforcement manager of the National Council for the Social Studies, points retired that the 2020 predetermination modular seems to instruct students that alleged "discrepancies" are an accepted position.

"And that's not needfully successful the champion practice," Schulzki said. "If you privation idiosyncratic to truly bash immoderate inquiry, past you would person to fto the pupil inquire the question."

Tammy Patrick, main programs serviceman for the Election Center, objects to the standards' notation of "batch dumps" of ballots, for instance. She says without a speech astir however late-night counts are often modular operating procedure, it is simply a look for misunderstanding.

"That is not teaching captious thought," Patrick said. "Teaching captious thought is to framework it successful specified a mode that instructs the students to find thing that sounds unusual to them, and past to excavation deeper into, wherefore is it the lawsuit that the happening that sounds unusual to you, erstwhile you enactment it into context, is it inactive odd? Or bash you present recognize amended the complexity of conducting elections successful the United States of America?"

Patrick said mendacious claims astir the predetermination person eroded nationalist assurance successful the system.

"And it volition proceed to erode if we proceed to person these mendacious narratives being repeated continually and utilized successful an world mounting arsenic though they are information and information by teachers, educators [and] authorities boards putting this retired arsenic though this is the aforesaid level of accuracy and correctness arsenic a mathematical oregon technological theorem," Patrick said.

Academic standards successful Oklahoma are the required database of topics that teachers indispensable screen to support their certifications and a school's accreditation status. School districts take the textbooks and program to conscionable the standards.

Aaron Baker is an Oklahoma City precocious schoolhouse authorities teacher. Because the modular is for U.S. History, helium won't thatch them successful his classroom. But helium said if helium had to, helium would see a information check.

"I would person nary qualms astatine each astir telling my students — successful fact, I've been telling my students for 4 years — that the courts person declared implicit and implicit again, aggregate times, that determination was not wide elector fraud successful the 2020 election," Baker said.

Another contented that critics similar Baker decry astir the caller standards is however they came into existence.

Late into the reappraisal process, the standards were overhauled by authorities officials, dismissing months of enactment by educators. Walters tapped starring blimpish figures similar Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, which enactment retired the Project 2025 blueprint for a 2nd Trump term, and Prager U's Dennis Prager for the standards' Executive Review Committee.

And portion Walters has not answered questions astir the committee's reach, Baker said the determination sent a connection to Oklahoma educators: "No. 1, we don't attraction what you deliberation astir these standards. And No. 2, we don't attraction that this is uniquely Oklahoma. These are Oklahoma students being taught by Oklahoma educators, but the enactment astatine the authorities [education] section is perfectly comfy with bringing successful extracurricular voices to archer america what our students should larn and what we should thatch them."

While the standards are acceptable to spell into effect adjacent schoolhouse year, a suit filed by a GOP erstwhile Oklahoma lawyer wide could stall their implementation.

But similar different criticisms coming from Republicans, the suit calls retired problems successful the support process — not the standards themselves.