Oklahoma won’t adopt social studies textbooks with academic standards on hold

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma public schools won’t be able to adopt new social studies textbooks next year with academic standards for the subject still in flux.

The State Textbook Committee voted Friday to suspend indefinitely the social studies textbook adoption cycle while the state Supreme Court and the Oklahoma State Department of Education consider what to do with the academic standards.

A September Court order paused implementation of the new social studies standards, which became highly controversial for including Bible teachings and dubious claims about the 2020 presidential election and COVID-19. Public records show 12 textbook publishers chose not to return to Oklahoma after the new standards were approved.

Those 12 companies, including major publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, are currently on the state’s approved list but didn’t submit a bid this year for reapproval. Companies have withdrawn from Oklahoma before during a math adoption cycle in 2023.

Some of those companies informed the Education Department they had concerns about new content included in the social studies standards, said Sharon Morgan, program director for the agency’s Office of Standards and Learning.

“There were a few publishers that we’re familiar with that did reach out,” Morgan said. “They were concerned about a few of the objectives in the 2025 social studies standards, and they let us know that they would not be bidding.”

Morgan said she doesn’t recall which publishers this entailed. She said the companies didn’t specify what new content was the source of their concerns, only that “they did not feel they could bid.”

The state received 12 bidders this year, including four not currently on the approved list.

In a typical cycle, the State Textbook Committee would have voted in November on final textbook adoption after considering review committees’ evaluations of each publisher. That vote would establish an approved list that schools could choose from when spending their textbook funds.

That vote couldn’t happen Friday with the social studies standards on hold, said Morgan, who was recently appointed as the committee’s chairperson.

“We’re hoping this is resolved by February and we know what our standards are,” she told the committee during Friday’s meeting.

In the meantime, public schools will continue using social studies standards and textbooks adopted in 2019.

New state Superintendent Lindel Fields said his administration intends to reexamine the 2025 standards. He told news reporters last month he expects “there will be some changes to them,” which would need agreement from the Oklahoma State Board of Education and the state Legislature.

Fields replaced former state Superintendent Ryan Walters in October. Walters, who resigned Sept. 30, led the development of the 2025 social studies standards.

Publishers would have another opportunity to bid once the standards are finalized, Morgan said. Having a final version of the standards by February would give companies time to decide whether to submit an intent to bid by April.

Delays in the current adoption cycle could force the textbook committee and its review teams to consider both social studies and science materials in 2026, Morgan said. It also could push three other subjects on the 2026 schedule — health, physical education and vocational education — to later years, she said.

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