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Oklahoma Revises Curriculum to Include Disputed 2020 Election Claims [1]
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Date: 2025-05-18
Oklahoma’s public high school curriculum is being revised to include a requirement that students identify alleged “discrepancies” in the 2020 U.S. election, marking a significant change from previous standards. The update is part of a broader initiative led by Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters to reshape the state’s K-12 standards.
The prior curriculum language encouraged students to “examine issues related to the election of 2020 and its outcome.” The new standard would have students “identify irregularities using data” such as “the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities,” concerns over mail-in ballots, “batch dumps,” high voter turnout, and deviations from historical voting trends in bellwether counties.
Superintendent Walters, who supports former President Donald Trump and has emphasized removing “left-wing indoctrination” from schools (see: ”woke”) , has also pushed for curriculum content emphasizing biblical references, patriotism, and “American exceptionalism”. He has stated previously that his objective is to return education to “understanding history” and reduce the influence of what he characterizes as radical or elitist ideologies in schools.
As part of this broader educational “reform”, Walters has supported the distribution of Trump-endorsed Bibles and backed efforts to create what would be the nation’s first public religious charter school. Additionally, the revised standards reportedly remove instruction related to Black Lives Matter and related material.
The curriculum overhaul, expected to cost $33 million in new materials and textbooks, was developed with input from a new executive committee assembled by Walters. That committee includes several Republicans, such as Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts (Project 2025), and Dennis Prager (PragerU).
While the state board of education approved the new standards, their final version included last-minute additions about the 2020 election and the origins of COVID-19, prompting concern among some state leaders. Both Oklahoma’s governor and several Republican legislators expressed unease over the changes, and some lawmakers attempted to introduce a resolution to block them. However, it did not receive enough Republican support to pass.
Groups like Moms for Liberty, an organization with significant influence in Oklahoma, mobilized in support of the standards and warned legislators against opposing them, citing past instances where GOP officials lost re-election bids after going against Republican grassroots platforms.
Separately, a policy adopted by the state board in January now requires parents to show proof of immigration status when enrolling children in Oklahoma public schools. According to Walters, this rule is intended to provide data on the number of students from undocumented families in the education system.
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