Oklahoma Schools Will Make Teachers from California and New York Pass an Ideology Test Before Getting Hired

NEED TO KNOW

• Oklahoma superintendent Ryan Walters announced plans to implement a mandatory test for out-of-state teachers from New York and California who are hoping to work in his state

• He said that the test is meant to root out "radical leftist ideology;" it will be around 50 questions

• Some of the sample questions touch on the concept of "freedom of religion" and its importance in the United States

Teachers from California and New York will need to pass a controversial new test if they want to work in Oklahoma, and some of the sample questions have been published.

Oklahoma superintendent Ryan Walters announced that teachers from those states would need to complete a mandatory quiz. He said the goal is to root out “radical leftist ideology” from classrooms, according to The Associated Press, The Hill and local outlet News 9.

“As long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York,” Walters said, per News 9.

"Any teacher coming from these states will be required to pass our new PragerU assessment before receiving certification, because we refuse to let Gavin Newsom’s woke, Marxist agenda turn Oklahoma into the same dumpster fire California has become,” he added.

The new test reportedly covers American history, civics and constitutional principles; it will feature approximately 50 questions.

Five multiple-choice sample questions from the test provided to the outlets ask teachers to provide the “first words of the U.S. Constitution,” and to answer the question of why “freedom of religion” is “important to America’s identity.”

The other questions ask teachers to name the two parts of U.S. Congress, reveal the number of U.S. Senators and to answer why "some states have more Representatives than others," per News 9.

Speaking to CNN, PragerU CEO Marissa Streit said that the test would also address “undoing the damage of gender ideology."

The Oklahoma Department of Education did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the new test.

Advocates say the requirement is meant to align educators with what Walters calls “traditional American values” before they step into the classroom, per AP and News 9.

However, some critics, including the American Federation of Teachers — one of the nation’s largest teachers unions — criticized the new test.

“This MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage,” AFT President Randi Weingarten told AP. “His priority should be educating students, but instead, it’s getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him.”

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The AFT previously criticized Walters for updating school curriculum to teach debunked information about the 2020 presidential election, including conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being “stolen” from President Donald Trump by the Democratic Party, which Trump has pushed.

Walters also announced last year that schools were required to incorporate the Bible into their curriculum due to a new state mandate, which also received criticism from groups such as the Interfaith Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting religious freedoms.

As for Walters’ latest requirement, a spokesperson for the state’s education department told AP that the new test for incoming teachers from California and New York is ready and will be scheduled to roll out “very soon."

Read the original article on People