KEY POINTS
- State Superintendent Ryan Walters says the test will stop 'liberal indoctrination' from states like California and New York.
- Critics, including teachers' unions, call the move political grandstanding that won't address Oklahoma's teacher shortage.
Oklahoma is taking its culture-war battles into the classroom, with plans to screen incoming teachers from left-leaning states through what officials are calling an 'America First' test. The initiative, championed by Republican state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters, has sparked a storm of criticism from education unions, civil liberties advocates and academics who argue it politicises the hiring of educators.
Walters first hinted at the plan during an Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting on July 24, where he insisted that the measure would protect children from 'teachers who believe there are 27 genders' and from 'anti-American, anti-Semitic hate.'
'You're not going to come in here and teach that there's 27 genders. There's boys and girls. That's in our science standards', Walters said at the time.
The superintendent has singled out California and New York as states whose education requirements are 'antithetical' to Oklahoma's standards. According to him, teachers from those states will need to pass the test before being certified to work in Oklahoma.
California's Department of Education mandates lessons on gender identity, sexual orientation and combating stereotypes. Walters argues such curricula undermine traditional values. His opponents say Oklahoma is substituting one ideology for another.
What's on Oklahoma's 'America First' Teacher Test?
According to CNN, the test reportedly has around 50 multiple-choice questions designed with input from conservative nonprofit PragerU. While the full exam has not been released to the public, some of the sample items include:
- Biological Sex: Teachers are asked which chromosome pairs determine male and female sex.
- Civics Basics: Questions cover the first three words of the US Constitution, the two chambers of Congress, and the total number of US senators.
- Religious Freedom: Candidates must explain why freedom of religion is 'important to America's identity'.
- American Exceptionalism: Some questions test knowledge of founding documents and whether US history should be taught as a story of greatness rather than systemic injustice.
Walters has said the goal is to ensure teachers do not bring in 'liberal indoctrination' from states like California and New York, which mandate lessons on gender identity and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Secrecy and Transparency Concerns
While Walters has been quick to discuss the test with national outlets like Fox News, local journalists in Oklahoma say they have been stonewalled. The Oklahoman newspaper requested a copy of the exam under the state's Open Records Act in early August but was told by the Education Department that it had 'no responsive documents'. Only after CNN reported on the test did the agency partially acknowledge its existence.
The attorney general's office has previously chastised Walters' department for failing to comply with transparency laws. Critics say the refusal to release the exam publicly raises questions about whether the test is designed more as a political weapon than as a neutral measure of teacher competency.
Teacher Shortages and Political Battles
The controversy comes as Oklahoma, like many states, grapples with a severe teacher shortage. Walters has promised signing bonuses of up to $50,000 to lure educators from across the country, but critics argue the new test will repel, not recruit applicants.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the requirement is 'a huge turn off' for educators.
'Teachers in this country are patriotic, and suggesting they're not is insulting', Weingarten said. 'Ryan Walters appears to be trying out for MAGA in chief, not educator in chief, because everything that he's doing is about the culture wars, not about the reading, writing and arithmetic'.
She added that Oklahoma's priorities should be literacy, wraparound services and competitive wages, not political loyalty tests.
Unions Push Back
Local and out-of-state union leaders have blasted the move as political theatre.
'This is a political stunt to grab attention', said Cari Elledge, president of the Oklahoma Education Association. 'All of the mandates coming out of the Department of Education are baseless and are distractions from real issues in Oklahoma'.
David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers' Association, dismissed Walters' claims that teachers from California are flocking to Oklahoma.
'This almost seems like satire and so far removed from my research around what Oklahoma educators need and deserve', Goldberg said. 'I can't see how this isn't some kind of hyper-political grandstanding that doesn't serve any of those needs'.
The Bigger Picture
Since assuming leadership of the state's Education Department in 2020, Walters has leaned heavily on PragerU, a nonprofit known for producing conservative media, including lesson plans emphasising Christian values and American exceptionalism. In 2024, he enlisted PragerU leaders to review Oklahoma's social studies standards, which now contain multiple references to Christianity.
In June 2024, Walters ordered Oklahoma public schools to include Bible instruction in classrooms, though he has said the new religion requirement will not appear on the teacher certification exam.
Walters, who was re-elected in 2022, insists his reforms are about restoring integrity to classrooms. 'These reforms will reset our classrooms back to educating our children without liberal indoctrination', he posted on X in April. 'We're proud to defend these standards, and we will continue to stand up for honest, pro-America education in every classroom'.
For critics, the debate underscores a wider national struggle over who gets to define education in America. As states contend with recruitment crises and shifting cultural landscapes, Oklahoma's experiment will test not only the applicants but also the boundaries of how far politics can reach into the classroom.
