Education Department won't take action on Edmond accreditation while lawsuit proceeds

Murray Evans, The Oklahoman
Updated ·3 min read
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters looks over material Feb. 22 at a meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education.
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters looks over material Feb. 22 at a meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education.

A hearing before an Oklahoma Supreme Court referee scheduled for Tuesday has been canceled after the Oklahoma State Department of Education voluntarily agreed to stay enforcement proceedings against Edmond Public Schools over a school library book dispute.

The Edmond district sued the Education Department, the Oklahoma State Board of Education and state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters last month, asking the court to rule on who has the authority to determine what books should be in school libraries in a district — the district’s elected school board, or Walters and the state agency.

The lawsuit came after the Education Department threatened to lower the Edmond district’s accreditation over the presence of two books in the libraries of the district’s three high schools. The district had asked for an emergency hearing for a ruling that would prevent the agency from doing that, but the agency agreed to not take any action against the district before the case was resolved. Specifically, attorneys for Walters and the agency said it wouldn’t place enforcement proceedings on an agenda for a state Board of Education meeting for the time being.

The court has given Walters, the Education Department and the state board until March 15 to respond to the district's application for the state Supreme Court to assume original jurisdiction in the case and the district's request for declaratory and injunctive relief. No hearings are set in the case for now.

Edmond student Anderson Bell speaks July 27, 2023, during public comments at the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting.
Edmond student Anderson Bell speaks July 27, 2023, during public comments at the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting.

However, the state Supreme Court’s chief justice, M. John Kane, has granted permission for a nonprofit organization that works on behalf of local school boards to file a legal brief supporting the Edmond district’s position. The Oklahoma State School Boards Association also was given until March 15 to file its brief.

Another nonprofit education-related organization, the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administrators, filed a similar motion, which the court approved on Monday. It's also due by March 15.

Walters has called both of those nonprofit groups “woke” organizations. In announcing in January that the Education Department would no longer work with those two organizations or the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center, Walters said the groups as "work in tandem with national extremist groups that seek to undermine parents, force failed policies into the schools, and work against a quality education in Oklahoma." He provided no specifics as to how they do so.

The Cooperative Council is an umbrella organization for a group of professional organizations, including the Oklahoma Association of School Administrators, the Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals, the Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principals, the Oklahoma Middle Level Education Association and the Oklahoma Directors of Special Services.

The state school boards association is governed by a 32-member board of directors composed of local school board members, who are elected by taxpayers of their respective districts.

In addition to those nonprofit organizations, three large school districts — Deer Creek Public Schools, Mid-Del Public Schools and Oklahoma City Public Schools — have publicly expressed their support for the Edmond district.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Education Department agrees to voluntary stay in Edmond library case