Oklahoma City
Panic set in over the weekend throughout the various conservative groups across the metro area as rumors began to swirl about a possible veto of HB 1775 from Governor Stitt. HB 1775 is the measure which would ban teaching the principles of Critical Race Theory in any public school or university in Oklahoma.
Monday morning Don Spencer, President of OK2A, put out an alert to his subscribers about the possible veto, spurring a tidal wave of action from nearly every conservative group in the Metro area, as well as the newly-minted OKGOP Chairman, John Bennett. By Monday afternoon, the Governor’s office was flooded with calls from concerned Oklahomans encouraging him to sign the legislation.
Ignite Liberty reached out to Senator Rob Standridge, the Senate author of the bill, to confirm the rumors of the potential veto.
As it turns out, the concerns may have been overstated. Though he could only confirm the rumors he had heard, Sen. Standridge stated that there had been an error in the tabulation of the voting in the house upon the bill’s final passage. Such procedural errors could have doomed the legislation should the bill had been challenged on Constitutional grounds in court. To fix this, the measure was withdrawn from the Governor’s desk as given a fourth reading and vote on the House floor.
In the end, the measure actually gained 7 votes as it passed with the emergency intact by a vote of 77-18. It had originally passed 70-19.
As of yesterday, May 4th, the bill was sent back to the Governor’s office for approval. It is widely expected that he will sign it into law, though he usually has 5 days from its arrival on his desk to sign it.
The measure, once signed, will bring much-needed relief to parents throughout the state, but especially in Edmond, Norman and Jenks School Districts where conservative parents and students have been suffering under the racist, Marxist ideology being force-fed to them by the radicals in charge of the schools.
While the measure does immediately ban the principles of Critical Race Theory from being taught in Oklahoma, it refers the measure over to the state’s regulatory authority over for enforcement. As such, the implementation and punitive aspects will be determined by the State Department of Education. Though the measure will absolutely give Oklahoma parents a much needed victory over CRT, it is still incumbent upon each parent to ensure that the local school districts are adhering to the new legislation.
As John Philpot Curran stated in a 1790 speech, “Eternal vigilance is indeed the price of liberty.” For Oklahoma parents and schoolchildren, that vigilance is more important now than ever.