'Makes little statutory sense': Conflicting laws surrounding Edmond Public Schools vs. OSDE lawsuit raise questions
The book brawl between Edmond Public Schools and the Oklahoma State Department of Education continues, but raises more questions.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The book brawl between Edmond Public Schools and the Oklahoma State Department of Education continues, but raises more questions.
Edmond Public Schools officials are asking for the Oklahoma State Supreme Court to rule on whether or not the Oklahoma State Department of Education has the authority to decide which books public schools can have in libraries, and to punish districts for violating their rules.
Edmond Public Schools (EPS) filed multiple legal challenges on February 20.
One of the challenges asks the Oklahoma State Supreme Court to rule whether the power to choose school library books lies with local school districts, or with the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE).
EPS also petitioned the court to file an injunction to stop the OSDE from taking any action against EPS until the court decides on the first challenge over OSDE’s jurisdiction.
EPS leaders say—legally—the OSDE has them between a rock and a hard place.
“EPS is in a Catch-22 situation,” said Edmond Public Schools Superintendent Angela Grunewald in February.
Also in February, Grunewald announced the EPS board voted unanimously to file those legal challenges, after the district received a letter from the OSDE on January 19.
News 4 obtained a copy of that letter.
It ordered EPS to remove two books—the Kite Runner and the Glass Castle—from its high school libraries, claiming the OSDE’s Library Media Advisory Committee determined the books “qualified as sexualized content” under OSDE’s rule defining sexualized content.
The letter did not cite specific excerpts within the books it deemed as violating the rule, but claimed both books include descriptions of certain sexual encounters.
Neither book contains pictures or illustrations of any kind. Both are text-only.
“This is an ongoing subversion of accountability. Edmond Public Schools not only allows kids to access porn in schools, they are doubling down to keep pornography on the bookshelves. Parents and kids should have the confidence of going to schools to learn. Instead of focusing on education, EPS has chosen to peddle porn and is leading the charge to undermine parents in Oklahoma.”
State Superintendent Ryan Walters (R)
In new court filings from Thursday, Edmond Public Schools argues the legislature has not approved rules allowing for OSDE to take control over school libraries.
A House Representative News 4 spoke with off camera confirms the legislature has not approved such a rule. He added rules as such have to go through the legislative and executive branch before being permanently enforced.
That same lawmaker also pointed to House Bill 3092, signed into law in 2022, as reaffirmation that local control over library material is in statute.
As school library media center resources are finite, the library media program shall be reflective of the community standards for the population the library media center serves when acquiring an age-appropriate collection of print materials, nonprint materials, multimedia resources, equipment, and supplies adequate in quality and quantity to meet the needs of students in all areas of the school library media program.
House Bill 3092, authored by Representative Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow)
The Oklahoma State Department of Education's rebuttal is since then, Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a Senate Joint Resolution pertaining to proposed administrative rules across several state agencies.
The proposed rules were sent to the legislature, but if lawmakers fail to take action within the required review period, the Governor can act as a lone wolf and push it through.
One of the rules proposed by OSDE and approved by the Governor prohibits "pornography" in schools districts. It also allows OSDE to adopt policies and make rules for school districts on library material.
However, Edmond Public Schools states in a Thursday court filing that OSDE has misconstrued the law.
Attorneys for the school district also noted when a state agency's rule was challenged for exceeding the board's statutory authority, it contended the argument was moot because the legislature had already approved the rule but the Oklahoma Supreme Court disagreed.
"[OSDE] treats this case as one challenging the procedural history of the Rules and their application to two books. Instead, the issue is that [OSDE] lacked statutory authority to create the Rules and, consequently, now lack authority to enforce them. This is even more evident after the filing of [OSDE], which fails to meet the statutory burden," court records show.
The question now: Which law will be followed in this case?
With the filing of the reply brief, Edmond Public Schools has addressed all the legal issues in the case. Although we cannot know for sure, we anticipate the Respondents on Monday filing responses to the friend of the court briefs filed by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration. At that point, we expect the Supreme Court to announce whether it wishes to hear oral argument from the parties or to rule on the written filings alone. From the beginning, Edmond Public Schools has maintained that it will not allow this case to distract from its educational mission, and that remains its focus. Like everyone else, it now patiently awaits the Supreme Court’s decision whether to assume original jurisdiction and address the merits of the dispute.
Justin Cliburn, Attorney for Edmond Public Schools