Almost 700,000 were enrolled to Oklahoma's public school system during the last academic year, per the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. Credit - Jonathan Kirn - Getty Images. Oklahoma's education department has announced plans to introduce an "America First" certification test to ensure that teachers moving from liberal statesalign with its values. "One of the things that we wanted to do is, first of all, make sure that they're great teachers, right? And No. 2, make sure we're not getting these woke, indoctrinating social justice warriors in the classroom," the state's Superintendent Ryan Walterssaid in an interviewwith Fox Digital. Walters said that every teacher moving to work in Oklahoma must pass the test in order to begin teaching, and that Conservative think-tank PragerU will assist in the development of the test. "We put the Bible back in our history standards," Walters said, adding that the 'America First' test would include questions based on American history and "common sense." Walters said the teaching of gender identity in other states was one motivation for the test, which will roll out in time for the upcoming school year. "We started seeing states like California, New York, Maine as well, that are putting out directives… saying 'In this state you've got to teach your 27 genders'," he said. Read more:As Trump Moves to Dismantle the Department of Education, We Need a Constitutional Amendment California state law requires students to be taught about "gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes… schools must teach about all sexual orientations and what being LGBTQ means," the state'sDepartment of Education says. None of the Education Departments in California, New York, and Maine make reference to teaching students about 27 genders. Maine has pushed backagainst President Donald Trump's directive to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' sports. At the start of his second term in office,Trump issuedan executive order saying that there are only two recognized genders. "We love President Trump in Oklahoma," Walters said, adding that the MAGA agenda is "saving education." Walter also claimed teachers coming into Oklahoma were "fleeing the teachers unions, the grip that they've had on them in these blue states." In 2023,Walters announceda maximum $50,000 bonus for teachers moving to the state with more than 5 years of experience, and for those in the top ten percentile in the United States. Smaller bonuses were offered depending on length of experience and what districts teachers had previously worked in. A spokesperson for PragerU said: "We fully understand why superintendents of education, like Ryan Walters, feel compelled to protect their students from the extreme left-wing ideologies being promoted in schools through teachers who often do not even realize the damage caused." Contact usatletters@time.com.
