Proposed Oklahoma social studies standards suggest ‘discrepancies’ in 2020 election

OKLAHOMA CITY — A quiet addition by the Oklahoma State Department of Education to add “discrepancies” in the 2020 elections to proposed academic standards for social studies has raised questions at the state Capitol as lawmakers weigh whether to approve them.

If enacted, the social studies standards would mandate the topics Oklahoma public schools must teach to students.

The Education Department presented the new social studies standards to the Oklahoma State Board of Education on Feb. 27 without acknowledging anything had changed from the original proposed draft. The agency didn’t share the new version on its website for public view as it has with past standards updates, and state Superintendent Ryan Walters declined to speak with reporters afterward.

The new proposal, which Oklahoma Voice obtained, would require that high school students “identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results” including “sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”

Walters said Thursday the standards “are not set up to either support or negate a specific outcome in the 2020 Presidential Election.”

“Our standards are designed to teach students how to investigate and calculate the specific details surrounding that (or any) election,” he said in a statement. “In order to oppose or support the outcome, a well rounded student should be able to make their own conclusions using publicly available data and details.”

The state Board of Education approved the new standards, sending them to the state Legislature for consideration. The House and Senate have 30 legislative days after the standards are submitted to the Legislature to adopt a joint resolution on them.

Lawmakers could approve, reject or amend the proposed language. If they do nothing, the proposal would take effect as written, according to state law. Gov. Kevin Stitt would have veto power if a legislative resolution lands on his desk. The current social studies standards remain in effect until new standards are approved.

One newly appointed Board of Education member, Ryan Deatherage, had asked for extra days to read the hundreds of pages of standards, but the rest of the board overruled him and opted to approve the proposal during its Feb. 27 meeting.

Republican leaders of the House and Senate said they hadn’t yet reviewed the standards.

Neither House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, nor Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, objected to schools discussing the 2020 elections with students. Both expressed confidence in the security of Oklahoma elections.

“As far as what’s in that curriculum, I have not looked at it yet, and so we’ll circle back and look at it and see exactly what it says,” Paxton said while speaking with reporters on Thursday. “But that is history. We can always talk about what happened in 2020 and why people felt like they were disenfranchised and also talk about what was good about it, what was bad about it but it’s all part of the discussion.”

President Donald Trump long refused to admit defeat in the 2020 election, even after multiple courts threw out his allegations of election fraud and President Joe Biden took office. It wasn’t until 2024 that Trump said he lost the 2020 race “by a whisker,” but he later said he intended his remarks to be sarcastic.

Hilbert said it’s an “indisputable fact” that voter turnout was historically high in 2020. He would not say whether high turnout amounts to a discrepancy in election results nor did he take a stance on the wording of the proposed standards.

“Before I would commit one way or another on the standards, I would want to read them first,” Hilbert said.

Democratic leaders, though, called the last-minute change “deeply alarming.” Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, said the Legislature should reject the proposed language.

There were no discrepancies in the 2020 presidential election, and to insinuate that there were is “misinformation,” House Minority Leader Cindy Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said.

“It’s appalling that they keep talking about this when there’s been proof and facts over and over again that there were no discrepancies,” she said. “Joe Biden was the president of the United States, and in terms of the (standards) being in our hands, we will have to apply pressure to House leadership.”

The new standards were controversial even before details emerged about the unacknowledged changes, which the media site NonDoc first reported. The new standards would require students in elementary school to learn about biblical stories and the teachings of Jesus “that influenced the American colonists, founders and culture.”

The individuals involved in developing the standards also created controversy. Walters announced far-right-wing media personalities and policy advocates like Dennis Prager and the president of the Heritage Foundation would take part in the drafting process.

Kirt said she already had concerns about the new standards because of who Walters chose to include.

“This takes it to a new level and clearly undermines transparency around that process,” she said in response to the last-minute rewriting.

It’s not the first time Walters’ administration quietly made changes that had a significant impact on the state.

His agency oversaw the process of readjusting the scoring of state tests, a process that resulted in the state lowering its standard of student proficiency in reading and math. Without announcing to the public that a major statistical change had taken place, the Education Department released test scores to parents and schools, giving a false impression of dramatic improvements in academic performance.

Months later, Walters blamed Gov. Kevin Stitt and another state agency for undermining the integrity of the test scores. The governor’s office disputed the allegation.

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.