OKLAHOMA CITY — Officials on Monday said they were exploring how a federal judge’s decision to temporarily block enforcement of parts of a controversial law that forbids the teaching of some gender and race concepts would impact Oklahoma school districts and universities.U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin late Friday afternoon issued his temporary injunction against parts of House Bill 1775. The decision comes more than two years after a coalition of teachers, students, activists and college professors first sued, arguing the law is vaguely worded and confusing.It bars eight race and gender concepts from public school classrooms and bans universities from requiring certain mandatory diversity training.Goodwin’s decision, among other things, temporarily bars the state from enforcing provisions of the 2021 law that bans public colleges and universities from including information on race or sex in orientations and prohibits public schools from teaching some specific concepts about race and gender discrimination.Goodwin’s order also blocks the state from implementing any administrative rules that violate his decision while litigation continues.Among other things, House Bill 1775 forbids teaching that a person is inherently racist, that people are responsible for the actions of others of their race or sex and that students should feel discomfort or guilt over previous actions committed by others of their gender or race.Critics said it is impossible to teach students the state’s academic standards and comply with the law. They argued because the law is written so vaguely, it violates their constitutional rights to due process and free speech. They said free speech protections ensure educators’ rights to speak about controversial subjects and for students to hear them.Supporters argued that while teachers can’t endorse any banned topics, they can teach about race and gender as long as it relates to the lengthy list of topics that must be taught in public schools. Those include race relations, the Ku Klux Klan and the Tulsa Race Massacre.Teachers who violate the law could have their licenses revoked.Tulsa Public Schools already experienced an accreditation downgrade because of implicit bias statements in a training.State Rep. Kevin West, RMoore, who authored House Bill 1775, said he’s certain the law will end up being upheld because he believes the concepts being prohibited are very clear.“It’s going to be a long process, I think, getting through exactly what the ruling is and the overall effect is going to be for the immediate,” West said. “I am glad that it ...
