In Oklahoma classrooms this fall, the Constitution looks a little different.

Teachers have discovered that “God Bless the USA” Bibles—$60 books endorsed by Donald Trump and distributed to schools at the urging of State Superintendent Ryan Walters—contain a glaring omission: 17 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are missing.

The Bibles, inspired by Lee Greenwood’s patriotic anthem, include the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, and what appears to be the Constitution. But upon closer inspection, educators realized the document ends with the 10th Amendment. Gone are Amendments 11 through 27, which enshrine many of the most transformative changes in American life.

That means students flipping through these pages won’t find the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, the 14th guaranteeing equal protection under the law, or the 19th granting women the right to vote.

“This is not an accident,” said Aaron Baker, a social studies teacher who went viral after exposing the omissions on TikTok. “This is an incomplete at best Constitution that’s in this Bible, and it’s a dishonest Constitution, and it’s not the Constitution I teach in my classroom.” His post, liked more than 600,000 times, sparked a storm of criticism and disbelief.

The Bibles were delivered after the Oklahoma Legislature declined to allocate $3 million for their purchase. Walters, undeterred, partnered with Greenwood to donate the books instead, declaring they would be distributed to every AP U.S. Government classroom in the state.

“Students need to understand the foundation of American history,” Walters said when announcing the plan. “That’s the Bible, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.”

But the foundation, critics argue, is being deliberately altered. The publisher told KFOR News that “the decision was made to only include the original founding fathers’ documents, as Amendments 11–27 were added at later dates.”

That explanation does not sit well with constitutional scholars. “The U.S. Constitution is composed of the Preamble, seven articles, and 27 amendments,” notes the National Constitution Center. Excluding nearly two centuries of amendments is not just selective—it is misleading.

“It would certainly mislead students if they are given this Bible,” said Alex Luchenitser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “Leaving out amendments that abolished slavery and expanded voting rights risks rewriting history by omission.”

Baker echoed the concern in his viral video: “The original Constitution never even used the word ‘slavery.’ The 13th Amendment finally did—and leaving it out changes how students understand our country’s progress and failures.”

The omissions are especially striking given Oklahoma’s ongoing struggles with education. In July, the state was ranked 50th in the nation for education quality. Instead of tackling systemic shortcomings, critics say, Walters chose to wage a culture war.

The superintendent has been one of the most outspoken conservative education leaders in the U.S., railing against “woke indoctrination” and pushing Christian nationalist curricula. Just one day after the Bible controversy erupted, Walters abruptly resigned from his post to lead a new nonprofit, the Teacher Freedom Alliance, which says it will help educators mold students into “free, moral, and upright American citizens.”

The timing only heightened suspicions. To many teachers, the Bible rollout looks less like an act of patriotism and more like a political stunt—one that sacrifices accurate civic education in the process.

Even the packaging of the Bibles reflects that blend of religion and politics. The “God Bless the USA” edition includes a handwritten chorus of Greenwood’s song, a pledge page, and an option to purchase a Trump-signed copy for $1,000. For critics, it’s a marketing exercise wrapped in the language of faith and freedom.

For parents and educators, though, the concern is simpler: What will students actually learn? With nearly half of the amendments missing, Oklahoma’s teenagers risk being taught a warped version of constitutional history—one where slavery was never abolished, where women never got the vote, and where civil rights protections never existed.

“This isn’t about patriotism,” one Oklahoma parent wrote on Facebook. “It’s about propaganda. My kids deserve the real Constitution, not one edited to fit someone’s politics.”

The controversy underscores a broader national battle over education—what students should learn, and who gets to decide. Across the country, conservative lawmakers and school officials have pushed for changes to curricula, book bans, and restrictions on how race and gender are taught. The Oklahoma Bible case, critics say, takes that fight a step further by altering foundational documents themselves.

For now, the Bibles remain in classrooms, though teachers like Baker say they won’t be using them. “I’ll keep teaching the real Constitution,” he said. “My students deserve the truth—not a version that leaves out the parts some people would rather forget.”