CNN
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Oklahoma is soliciting bids for Bible suppliers to offer their wares for the state’s schooling division – and the precise necessities match Bibles endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
The Bible parameters specified by the state superintendent for public instruction’s request for proposals (RFP)– together with containing the Pledge of Allegiance and the Declaration of Independence – are a match for musician Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA Bible. The RFP necessities additionally say that the Bibles will need to have the Previous and New Testaments, and embrace copies of the US Structure.
In accordance with Oklahoma Watch, the parameters for the bid successfully exclude 1000’s of Bibles.
The request for proposals doc was first reported by Oklahoma Watch in The Oklahoman on Friday.
Greenwood is greatest generally known as the musician behind “God Bless the USA,” a track that’s turn into a staple at Trump rallies. The Bibles promote for $60 on-line and, via his endorsement, the previous president receives a few of the proceeds, in response to Oklahoma Watch.
One other Bible that meets the necessities, the We The Individuals Bible, prices $90 every. That model was additionally endorsed by Trump.
The RFP from superintendent Ryan Walters is a part of his ongoing push to place Bibles in each classroom. He has stated that “each instructor, each classroom within the state could have a Bible within the classroom and might be educating from the Bible within the classroom.”
His 2026 fiscal yr finances requested for $3 million to fund buying 55,000 copies.
In a press release, Oklahoma State Division of Training Director of Communications Dan Isett stated the RFP was in step with the “norms of state procurement.
“Superintendent Walters has dedicated the company to an open and clear RFP course of, in step with the norms for state procurement, that might be sufficient to fulfill the wants of Oklahoma school rooms,” Isett stated in a press release to CNN. “There are a whole lot of Bible publishers and we anticipate a strong competitors for this proposal. Because the RFP is open and ongoing, it might be inappropriate to remark whereas bids are being positioned.”
However the specificity of the bidding course of has raised eyebrows. Colleen McCarty, the lawyer and govt director of the Oklahoma Appleseed Heart for Legislation & Justice, warned in a separate assertion that the overarching Bible effort is probably going to attract authorized challenges.
“The RFP on its face appears truthful, however with further scrutiny we are able to see there are only a few Bibles available on the market that may meet these standards, and all of them have been endorsed by former President Donald Trump,” McCarty stated in a press release. “Ryan Walters continues to waste taxpayer cash on unconstitutional endeavors designed to attract litigation in pursuit of his political ambitions. It’s an affront to the rules endeared within the structure and it’s emblematic of Ryan Walters’ disdain for the rule of regulation.”
Walters has garnered outsized consideration for a state superintendent. In June, he ordered all public faculties to show each the Bible and the Ten Commandments. He opposed educating LGBTQ points within the public faculty system and been described by The New York Instances as certainly one of Oklahoma’s “most strident tradition warriors.” Conservative teams just like the 1776 Venture PAC, Mothers for Liberty, and People for Prosperity have supported him as a candidate for the highest public faculties job.
As a candidate, Walters centered on tradition warfare points which can be crimson meat for conservatives, like opposing educating essential race principle, combating gun management restrictions, and opposing abortion rights. He endorsed Trump virtually a yr in the past.
In an interview on Friday, Alicia Andrews, the chairwoman of the Oklahoma Democratic Get together, stated that Walters’ strikes as superintendent has been about getting nationwide consideration.
“Every thing he’s doing is for clickbait,” Andrews stated in an interview on Friday, including “he’s not doing it for what’s good for Oklahoma, what’s good for our college students.”