OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma State Department of Education defended proposed permanent rules, including changes to the accreditation standards, in the Senate Administrative Rules Committee on Monday.
Committee Chairman Michael Bergstrom, R-Adair, said the meeting was intended to examine specific proposed rules that members wanted evaluated.
“This is to be a look at policy and not politics,” he said.
Later in a press release, Bergstrom defended his decision to limit questions and comments in the meeting, saying, “In this gathering, questions had to be limited since common sense tells you that in a meeting of less than two hours where you are looking at two dozen rules, unlimited questions would result in few rules actually being reviewed.”
Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, argued that these rules go beyond the authority given to Department of Education by the Legislature and that the department is making new policy rather than interpreting the policy crafted by the Legislature.
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“The concern on this one is that there is no explicit authorization to be able to promulgate these rules, and the other concern is that it has religious language. So there are also additional concerns about whether it would violate the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution,” Brooks said when discussing one of the first contested rules.
Lindsey McSparrin, the government relations associate for the Education Department, argued against these concerns, promising to follow up after the meeting with more details on the statutes on which the department is relying as proof that it has the authority to make these rules.
Administrative rules have the same impact as laws but are written and enforced by state agencies. The rule-making process in Oklahoma requires agencies to take public comment and to submit the rules for approval by the Legislature and the governor.
“Our state statute has for over 30 years, since House Bill 1017, articulated with great detail what impacts accreditation,” said Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman.
HB 1017, also known as the Education Reform Act of 1990, created the state’s process for accrediting schools. Boren cited concerns about changes to accreditation through new rules. If these rules go into effect, schools could lose accreditation for not properly listing financial information on their websites and for not creating policies for student-led prayer during school and at extracurricular activities such as football games.
“When we pass rules without legislative authority, it throws us into chaos. And to be messing with accreditation in this way without legislative authority is very problematic for me,” Boren said.
In a press release after the meeting, Brooks said: “Attorney General Gentner Drummond has already issued an opinion that the State Board of Education and (State Superintendent) Ryan Walters overstepped their authority with the rules they are seeking to enact. Today’s meeting was supposed to provide us with additional information.”
Brooks said he was concerned about the limited questioning during the committee meeting and said he was unsatisfied with the answers given by McSparrin. “Many members have long contended Walters is simply trying to bypass the legislative process with these rules, and nothing I heard today convinced me otherwise,” he said.
The State Department of Education justified its authority to make all of the contested rules by citing the Oklahoma Constitution and a statute Drummond had said in a 2023 opinion did not grant broad rule-making authority.
“There could not be a more clear discussion right now regarding the future of our state,” Walters said in a prepared statement after the meeting. “Democrats want to promote DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), p*rn, and indoctrination of our kids vs. individual parents who want basic common sense values in our schools.
“Democrats took aim at the Oklahoma Constitution, well-established precedent, and the clear will of Oklahomans today. Democrats will stop at nothing to try to regain control of our kids’ education, and on behalf of Oklahoma students, our families in Oklahoma will never give in to their demands.”
Bergstrom said after the meeting that he was not convinced by the concerns Democrats raised around the attorney general’s opinion on OSDE rule-making.
“The Administrative Rules Committee meeting today was for members to gather information and it certainly did that,” Bergstrom said in the release. “In fact, regarding SDE rules, the agency has agreed to provide answers to any questions not fully answered in committee as well as any additional concerns or questions submitted. This is being transparent and accountable while avoiding much of the politics and most of the pontificating.”