Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, demands that students in the state watch a video of him praying for the country, the schools, and specifically, president-elect Donald Trump. Walters is also one of the hopefuls for Trump’s pick as Education secretary in his cabinet.

In an email circulated to Oklahoma public school superintendents last week, Walters said that playing the video to “all kids that are enrolled” in their districts as well as to the students’ parents would be required by Oklahoma schools.

In the email — featuring several grammatical errors — Walters wrote, “We are in a dangerous time for this country. Student’s [sic] rights and freedoms regarding religious liberties are continuously under assault.”

He went on to say the new office within the state Education Department “will be working to thwart any attempts to disrupt our Oklahoma student’s [sic] fundamental freedoms.”

Walters ordered district superintendents to show the video to “all kids that are enrolled” and to “send this video to all parents as well.”

The video soon circulated on social media after being posted to the official YouTube channel for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

The video, titled ‘Supt. Walters Announcement Regarding the Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism,’ begins with Walters facing a camera while sitting at the desk in his office.

A mug sits on the desk next to Walters’ hands.

Printed on the mug is the Latin phrase “si vis pacem para bellum,” which translates to “if you want peace, prepare for war.”

In the video, Walters announced a new office in the state called “the Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism.”

“We’ve also seen patriotism mocked and a hatred for this country pushed by woke teachers’ unions. We will not tolerate that in any school in Oklahoma. We want our students to be patriotic. We want our students to love this country. And we want all students religious liberty to be protected. I will now say a prayer, and to be clear, students, you don’t have to join. But if you so wish, I’m gonna go ahead and pray,” Walters says before launching in his prayer where he specifically mentions the president-elect.

“Dear God, thank you for all the blessings you’ve given our country. I pray for our leaders to make the right decisions. I pray in particular for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country.”

He continued, “I pray for our parents, teachers, and kids that they get the best education possible and live high-quality lives. I also pray that we continue to teach love of country to our young people and that our students understand what makes America great. And that they continue to love this country. Amen.”

After the video went out, several school districts in Oklahoma came out and said they had no intention of showing the video, the Oklahoman reported.

Mid-Del Public Schools Superintendent Rick Cobb told News 4 he couldn’t believe it when he got Walters’ email on Thursday.

“I was in a meeting yesterday with two of my leadership team when it came in and I said, ‘hold on, I’m going to read this to you,’” Cobb said. “And then we watched the video and we made the decision right away that we’re not sending this out to our students and parents.”

“When we receive something from the State Department of Education saying you are required to share this, and there’s no statutory requirement for us to do that, we have to evaluate whether it’s actually appropriate to share,” Cobb said. “It has no instructional value. It has no relevance to what we’re trying to communicate to our staff. We just decided it wasn’t something that we needed to get out to everybody.”

The office of the state’s Republican attorney general, Genter Drummond, also weighed in, saying Walters cannot mandate schools to play the video.

“There is no statutory authority for the state schools superintendent to require all students to watch a specific video,” Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, told the newspaper.

“Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights.”

Tim Gilpin, a Tulsa-based attorney and former Assistant Oklahoma Attorney General, told News 4 there is “no practical reason” for Walters to demand this prayer video be shown.

Gilpin said, if schools were to show the video to students at Walters’ direction, they could possibly open themselves up to legal problems.

“There are a lot of legal issues raised by [Walters] doing this, and even more if a school district showed it to their students,” Gilpin said. “It is indoctrination. It is a state official pushing their political and religious beliefs off on the rest of us… I suspect that if this video was shown in classrooms and students and their parents were disturbed by it, that they could bring a lawsuit against maybe Mr. Walters and also the school district.”

So, why would Walters do something like this? News 4 reported previously that Walters’ name has been floated as a possibility for U.S. Secretary of Education during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in office.

“It seems like [Walters] is supercharged now that Trump is the president-elect and possibly gaining his attention might be to Mr. Walters’ benefit,” State Rep. Melissa Provenzano (D-Tulsa), a parent and former middle school principal in Tulsa Public Schools, told News 4.

“I have to wonder if his heart’s in it,” she said. “It’s almost laughable, and it just desperately seems like he’s very much trying to get the attention of [President-elect Trump].”

Walters’ announcement was sent just hours after the agency he runs, the Oklahoma State Department of Education, issued a news release in which Walters said more than 500 Bibles had been purchased for Oklahoma public schools, specifically for Advanced Placement Government classrooms.

“We are focused on ensuring we get Bibles available in every classroom in our state as quickly as we can,” said Walters.

“I will take every step possible to ensure Oklahoma students have the resources they need to fully understand American history. By acting now, Oklahoma is leading the country on a path toward greater focus on academic excellence by providing critical historical, cultural, and literary context for our students. We are not going to change our history, and the Bible is a major part of that.”

The Bibles purchased by the state appear to be the same version endorsed by Donald Trump — the “God Bless the USA Bible,” which includes the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance. This is also known colloquially as the “Trump Bible.”

Back in June, Walters notified all Oklahoma state schools to “immediately” incorporate the Bible into classroom curriculum, drawing immediate outrage and threats of lawsuits.

This newest purchase was separate from a prior request for proposal issued by the Oklahoma State Department of Education for 55,000 Bibles. Republicans and Democrats at the State Capitol shot down that original request which would have cost $6 million.

Dan Isett, a spokesman for Walters and the Oklahoma Department of Education, told The Oklahoman that the order for “this initial purchase” of 500 Bibles was made last week and cost $25,000. He said the Bibles “will arrive in the coming weeks.”

Isett didn’t answer questions about where the funding for the Bibles came from or about when the department had received approval from the Legislature to spend money on Bibles.

State Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore — the outgoing chair of the House Appropriations and Budget subcommittee on education — did answer the latter question by saying as far as he knows the approval never happened.

“I’m the guy who does the line items [for the state education budget] and there wasn’t one for Bibles,” McBride told The Oklahoman.

“We never talked about Bibles. There was never a discussion about Bibles in the education [funding)] bill. None whatsoever. Never brought up. Never in their original proposal. It just wasn’t there.

“I still go back to, where did the money come from? There was no appropriation for Bibles. I don’t know I have a problem with buying 500 Bibles … but where did you get the money? I just wish we would focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic.”

State Rep. Pae said Walters’ initiative is a violation of separation of church and state.

“My main issue when it comes to this initiative of purchasing Bibles is it violates the separation of church and state, and it sets the precedent that we are opening Pandora’s box,” he said.

Walters said he is fully committed to his job as State Superintendent and working with schools and their families.

The State Supreme Court ruled last spring that every school district has its own authority to choose what is used in its curriculum to meet state education standards.

That means schools are not required to use the Bibles bought by Walters. There’s no word on when Oklahoma schools will receive the Bibles.