Red state leader defends decision to include 2020 election ‘discrepancies’ in high school curriculum

Facing criticism from the media and even from his state’s governor, the head of Oklahoma’s education system is defending a recently approved high school history curriculum that teaches about irregularities and “discrepancies” in the 2020 election.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, a Republican, said that the state is “in the middle of a dramatic turnaround” in education, made possible by President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the federal Department of Education.

According to Walters, the changes are being spurred on by Oklahoma parents and grandparents, who he says are demanding the state “get back to the basics” of education and eliminate any left-wing or legacy media-driven narratives in school curricula.

“We want these parameters around our standards so that we know our kids are going to be taught facts, not have a left-wing agenda pushed on them,” he said. “I think that that’s going to continue to be what parents and grandparents here demand. So, I think that we need to be listening to them.”

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Perhaps the most controversial change among the state’s educational reforms is a recently approved set of Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies document that instructs high school teachers to instruct students 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.”

The change has been widely lambasted by the media and by some leaders in the state.

The New York Times reported state Rep. John Waldron, who is vice-chair of the Oklahoma House Democratic caucus, slammed Walters, saying the “superintendent campaigned to end indoctrination in our schools, but what he is doing instead with these new standards is promoting his own brand of indoctrination.” 

Meanwhile, a representative for Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt told Fox News Digital that the change is “just another distraction from making sure kids can read.” 

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Walters, however, is refusing to budge. He claimed that by including discussion about the 2020 election, the state is not pushing a particular viewpoint but rather encouraging students to be “critical thinkers.”

“The left doesn’t want kids to look at the numbers, look at the data and ask questions about the election. Look, we’ve never had an election like 2020. I mean, literally all of the processes were changed leading up to it. Our kids need to do a deep dive in that,” he said. “We’re going to make sure when our kids study history, they’re looking at numbers, are looking at data, they’re looking at what the historical records show us.”

Walters believes this is a “crucial step in ensuring when teachers talk about the 2020 election, [they tell students to] look at the numbers, look at the data.”

“Let students do that deep dive. I think it makes them better students. I think it makes them more well-rounded people,” he said. “I also think it teaches them to think for themselves when you move into the future. Hey, don’t take anybody’s word for it. Do your own research. Do your own study. I think that’s a really important message that we’ve got to get across to our kids.”

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Though already approved by the state Board of Education, the standards still need approval from the legislature or governor.

While he said he is “optimistic” the legislature will approve the curriculum, Walters took aim at Stitt, accusing him of being a “never Trumper.”

“It’s really unfortunate,” he said. “If the governor wants to come out and force students and tell them that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and that he doesn’t want them to look at facts or think about it, that’s way out of step with Oklahomans.”

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In response, Abegail Cave, a representative for Stitt, said the governor was more concerned about declining test scores in the state. She accused Walters and some members of the education board of being “more focused on making headlines and political wins than they were actually making sure Oklahoma kids could read.” 

Cave called the idea that Stitt is a never Trumper “ridiculous.”

“He voted for Donald Trump and he’s not a never Trumper. That’s again Ryan Walters trying to spin the narrative and muddy the waters for no reason,” she said. 

Cave pointed out Stitt’s recent public appearances praising Trump’s actions against the federal Department of Education, saying “the governor is a firm believer that we should leave education to the states.”