Oklahoma school chief touts 'America First' teacher test to prevent indoctrination in schools

Oklahoma Education Superintendent Ryan Walters said that teachers coming from left-leaning states like California will have to take an "America First" test to combat leftist indoctrination.

"We don't let leftists from California under Gavin Newsom come in and indoctrinate kids in Oklahoma," Walters said on the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show. "That's what's controversial about it. It's amazing. It's common sense.

"When we saw Gavin Newsom require teachers in California to teach that there's 27 genders [and] to teach that there's no difference between males and females, [and] when we saw the anti-Americanism in the curriculum in New York, we said, 'we're not doing that in Oklahoma,'" he continued. 

In a previous interview, Walters said he worked with Prager University to develop the test. 

"We actually teach based on the facts"

"Prager did a great job of helping us develop a test, and, guess what, you're going to have to know what, what a female is, what a male is, the biological differences, because guess what?" he told a local news outlet. "We actually teach based on the facts, in our biology -- in our classes here in Oklahoma. We also teach real American history. We want our kids to be patriotic. We want our kids to love this country."

The test will also ensure that teachers are well-versed in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

There has been some pushback to this test, with an agency leader arguing that making teachers coming to Oklahoma from states like New York or California take a test is a violation of state law.

"Requiring an 'America First' assessment for teachers moving from progressive states like California and New York, as state Superintendent Ryan Walters pledged to do, would step outside the authority Oklahoma law grants to the state Department of Education," Megan Oftedal, executive director of the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability wrote in an email to the group's governing board. 

Responding to parents' demands

A spokesperson for Walters’ administration responded to Oftedal's statement, saying that the group has no control over certifying teachers. Walters said Oklahoma has many great teachers coming from all over the U.S. to teach, but they don't want leftist indoctrination coming from left-leaning states.

"We've got teachers coming in from all over the country," he said. "What we will not allow, though, are leftist indoctrinators masquerading as teachers to come into our classrooms and push a Marxist agenda onto our kids." Walters said that Oklahoma does merit-pay increases when it comes to teachers and high-performing teachers can make up to $100,000 a year.

"Our parents have demanded to get back to the basics in education," he said. "That's what we're doing right here in Oklahoma."