Senate Education Committee Passes Bullard’s Teachers’ Bill of Rights

OKLAHOMA CITY — Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, has advanced legislation that would create a Teachers’ Bill of Rights to enshrine classroom protections for all Oklahoma educators.

The Senate Education Committee recently approved Senate Bill 1237, which details the rights afforded to schoolteachers, administrators and support staff.

“In Tinker v. Des Moines, the U.S. Supreme Court famously said that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gates,” Bullard said. “That same principle also applies to teachers. Educators do not lose their citizenship or their First Amendment rights when they choose this profession. The Teachers’ Bill of Rights is about making sure these hardworking professionals are protected in their rights to free speech and religious liberty, allowing them to focus on what they do best — educating students.”

The Teachers’ Bill of Rights establishes protections for educators while on school property. The measure affirms teachers’ rights to free expression of religion, speech, and peaceful assembly; to be free from verbal or physical abuse in the workplace; to maintain a safe working environment; and to exercise appropriate student discipline.

Among other things, the legislation also protects teachers’ rights to medical privacy, including the ability to refuse vaccinations or mask requirements; to decline participation in certain trainings; and, if authorized, to carry and use a firearm.

Under this legislation, local school boards would be required to establish a formal due process procedure that would allow staff to report when their rights have been violated.

“The lack of discipline and physical and verbal abuse in the classroom are among the main reasons educators are leaving the profession,” Bullard said. “Teaching is, in my opinion, the greatest profession ever created. No teacher should have to endure conditions in school that no other working professional would be expected to endure in their workplace.”

SB 1237 is currently eligible for consideration by the full Senate.

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For more information, contact: communications@oksenate.gov.