Rules impacting school libraries, LGBTQ+ students advance in Oklahoma State Board of Education

After receiving hours of public input and hundreds of pages of comments, Oklahoma's top school board unanimously passed rules impacting public school libraries and non-gender-conforming students.

The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted Thursday to approve a new requirement that schools notify a student's parents if the child changes gender identity or pronouns. The board also agreed to a ban on "pornographic" content from school libraries.

State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters proposed the administrative rules, which now advance to the state Legislature for review.

Although the agency's general counsel said the library rules would have a "limited" scope of impact, Walters described sexual material in schools as a pervasive threat.

"Our values are under attack," Walters said.

More:Oklahoma AG scrutinizes school library books

Attorney General Gentner Drummond warned this week that state agencies can't enact administrative rules without first receiving a directive from the Oklahoma Legislature.

The rules affecting parental rights and library materials did not correspond with new laws the Legislature recently passed. Rather, Walters brought the regulations to the board himself.

Drummond's non-binding letter didn't directly call into question the Education Department's proposal, and the state superintendent said the legality of the rules were never in doubt.

"We've had great conversation with the attorney general's office," Walters said after the meeting. "We haven't seen any issues in the rules we've currently proposed or have been working on. We see no issues and have a great relationship."

The parental rights and library media rules drew significant interest. Thousands of people gave input during the public comment period.

Under the parental rights rules, schools could face a demotion to their accreditation status if they fail to report a change in a student's gender identity or pronouns to the child's parents.

“I cannot support secrets between adults and children," one mother, Shanna Lakin, said to the board. "I think these small, tiny steps can lead to crossing huge boundaries. We need to keep information flowing, not break it off.”

Walters has been one of the loudest voices in Oklahoma opposing transgenderism, frequently referring to it as a "woke" liberal concept.

More:The inside scoop on Oklahoma's bills targeting transgender healthcare, gender identity instruction

Forcing school staff to report a change in a student's gender identity could put youths in danger if their parents aren't accepting, and it could reveal their gender identity before they are ready to share it with their families, said Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.

McAfee, who is queer and nonbinary, said some students feel safer coming out at school than at home.

"School might be the only or last place that they have any safety or affirmation," McAfee said. "We are taking that away from them and forcing educators in the process to make some really hard decisions about whether they are going to comply with this arbitrary rule or risk the safety of some of their most vulnerable students."

More LGBTQ+ students said school is a more affirming space for them than home, and fewer attempted suicide when they had an accepting school environment, according to the Trevor Project’s 2022 LGBTQ+ youth survey.

Another set of regulations would ban "pornographic" materials from school libraries.

In defining pornography, the rules borrow the definition in state law of obscene material, which says the content, taken as a whole, must lack a serious literary or educational value. The Education Department's new rule adds that schools must consider the youngest age of students with access to the material.

The new rules also ban "sexualized content" that isn't strictly pornographic but contains "excessive sexual material."

During Thursday's meeting, Walters showed graphic images found in five young adult books, including pictures from “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships and Being a Human” by Erika Moen, a title that had been removed from Oklahoma City Public Schools libraries.

"I think if it's in one school library, in one classroom, it's too much," Walters said.

The rules set an "incredibly high bar" that reflect what already exists in state law, said Bryan Cleveland, general counsel for the state Education Department. The new language allows the state Board of Education to impose an accreditation penalty on schools that fall short of the regulations.

Oklahoma hasn't seen anyone prosecuted for circulating obscene material in decades. State law says the whole of a book, not only an excerpt, would have to be deemed obscene to meet the statutory definition.

Asking schools to consider the youngest affected students differs from legal precedent, but such a case is still likely to be rare, said Joey Senat, an open government and media law expert at Oklahoma State University.

"Still, I doubt that any public school library would contain material that a federal court would agree meets this definition of pornographic," Senat said.

The state superintendent said he intends to pursue more administrative rulemaking in the future regarding teacher unions, potentially to stop automatic paycheck deductions for teachers to pay union dues. Walters announced he will send a letter to every teacher in the state to notify them they aren't obligated to be members of a union or professional association.

Oklahoma law and a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirm the right of public-sector employees' to not pay dues to a union.

Walters accused teacher unions of coercing educators into becoming due-paying members and of doing "all that they can to destroy public education."

Professional Oklahoma Educators, a teachers' professional association with 12,000 members, said Walters' efforts against paycheck deductions resemble government overreach. A poll of the group's membership found 90% support this method of due payment, said Jennifer Kisling, communications director for POE.

"Our members freely choose to join us each school year," Kisling said in a statement. "There is no coercion from our office or our members."

Reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel covers K-12 and higher education throughout the state of Oklahoma. Have a story idea for Nuria? She can be reached at nmartinez-keel@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @NuriaMKeel. Support Nuria’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Okla. board pass Walters' proposed rules on libraries, LGBTQ+ students