65 | Book Bans and Local Control: Oklahoma’s Fight Over “Inappropriate” Material in School Libraries

You know what we miss? With everything happening at the federal level, we haven’t talked about Oklahoma in ages. Well, today we're doing something about that! Today’s case deals with Oklahoma, school libraries, allegations of “sexualized” material, and a state superintendent determined to enforce new rules about what students can and cannot read. But this one isn’t just about book bans. It’s about who gets to decide what belongs in a public school library: the state board of education or local school districts. And when the state tried to enforce its new rule against a district, that district went straight to the Oklahoma Supreme Court and said, you don’t have the authority to do that. This is the case of Edmond Public Schools v. the Oklahoma State Board of Education. We also talk about new guidance from the U.S. Department of Education (yes, it still exists!) on constitutionally protected prayer in public schools.---CHALK & GAVEL IS LIVE AT #SXSWEDU THIS WEEK!---Check out our updated website (⁠www.chalkandgavel.com⁠) to sign up for our newsletter, support the show, find our episode database, and order some NEW MERCH.Interested in staying up to date on education law as an educator? Check out ELA's new publication, Law and Policy in Schools, available at https://www.educationlaw.org/lapis---Keywords: Oklahoma, Curriculum, Book Bans, School Governance, Libraries, Religious Freedoms, Prayer#educationlaw #k12 #podcast #ChalkandGavel #BookBans