Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters has proposed that teachers instruct high school students to identify “discrepancies” in the 2020 election under new academic standards for social studies curricula. In doing so, Walters seeks to legitimize President Donald Trump’s unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen.” Over 60 courts threw out election fraud cases brought by Republicans and Trump’s campaign due to a lack of evidence.

The Oklahoma-based journalism organization NonDoc published Walters’ full updated guideline requiring teachers to teach the conspiracy theory last Wednesday. In the revision, students are instructed to “identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”

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Conspiracy theories around the alleged electoral fraud have been widely debunked. Nevertheless, various right-wing sources point to the sudden halt of ballot counting from sudden influxes of mailed-in votes in battleground states including Michigan as evidence of fraud. 

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The influx of mail-in votes occurred because the 2020 election occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Usually, people vote in person; however, because of the quarantines, many were encouraged to vote by mail. The over-reliance on mail-in voting slowed down the finalization of the election results since poll volunteers were uncharacteristically tasked with verifying the legitimacy of each ballot.

Despite this, Walters is not convinced that the election wasn’t tampered with. Walters is a known Trump loyalist, and he has shown his loyalty through his unusual actions as Oklahoma’s education head. Just days after the 2024 election, Walters ordered that all school districts in the state of Oklahoma present a video to their class of him praying for then-President-elect Donald Trump. He had also demanded that the State Department of Education have Bibles signed by President Trump be placed in every classroom, a directive that would’ve cost the already underfunded Department of Education upwards of $3 million.

Walters said in a statement to The Washington Post that the new standard “empowers students to investigate and understand the electoral process.”

“The purpose of the standard is simple: We want students to think for themselves, not be spoon-fed left-wing propaganda — Students deserve to examine every aspect of our elections, including the legitimate concerns raised by millions of Americans in 2020,” Walters continued.

Walters claimed his mandate will fight left-wing propaganda. However, it could be argued that his mandate could also be considered propaganda, which is usually defined as “the promotion of information biased towards a specific political view, often in a misleading or misinformative nature.”

Walters submission was approved on February 27 during a State Board of Education meeting, but it received no acknowledgment or discussion during that time, indicating that it could’ve been possibly overlooked.

State Board of Education member Ryan Deatherage had told NonDoc, “In the spirit of full transparency, I question why this was done in the 11th hour and why no mention of this was made during the presentation at the board meeting.”

Several of Walters’ Republican colleagues were quick to speak against him. Rep. Ronny Johns (R), a former educator and member of the House Common Education Committee, pointed out that the new standards threaten teachers.

“Teachers have to remain neutral while teaching and presenting lessons that go along with the standards. When dealing in this case with these two things, you’re opening up an opportunity for teachers to insert their biases one way or another,” Johns said.

“The same thing can be said concerning the standards connected with Bible stories and scriptures. I’ve heard from numerous pastors, ministers, deacons, elders, parents and teachers that are very concerned on how those things will be presented and taught,” he added, possibly alluding to Walters’ directive telling schools to teach the Bible. Some of his state’s largest school districts have ignored the directive, and several parents and legal organizations have sued over it, saying it violates the Constitution and state education laws.

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