Oklahoma will require teachers from New York and California seeking jobs in its public schools to pass a certification exam proving alignment with conservative state values.
Regardless of grade or subject, applicants must show understanding of “biological differences between females and males” and agreement with Oklahoma’s American history standards, which include claims that the Democratic Party stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump, a conspiracy theory rejected by fact checkers.
The Department of Education will enforce the new exam for teachers from those states “who are teaching things that are antithetical to our standards,” Superintendent Ryan Walters told USA TODAY. He said the test would prevent educators from “indoctrinating kids.”
Walters has labeled the requirement an “America First” certification, referencing one of Trump’s slogans. Republican Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Walters to lead the Department of Education in September 2020, and voters re-elected him in November 2022.
Oklahoma is offering hiring bonuses of up to $50,000 to recruit teachers nationally, and Walters said interest has grown. The test is designed to filter applicants with views that conflict with state standards. It will initially apply only to teachers from California and New York, which he said promote lessons contrary to Oklahoma’s curriculum.
Walters pointed to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies, claiming the state’s lessons include “gender theory,” which Oklahoma schools will not allow. California’s Healthy Youth Act of 2016 requires lessons inclusive of LGBTQ students, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
Conservative nonprofit PragerU is helping develop the test, as it did with Oklahoma’s new history curriculum. That curriculum includes teaching about alleged voter fraud in the 2020 election, the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab, and excludes lessons on George Floyd’s murder and Black Lives Matter.
“These reforms will reset our classrooms back to educating our children without liberal indoctrination,” Walters wrote on X on April 29. He said history questions would focus on American government, founding documents, and basic civics.
His office provided USA TODAY with sample questions, such as identifying the first three words of the Constitution, the number of U.S. senators, and why some states have more representatives than others. Walters said the test will be completed by August 15 and available for candidates the week of August 18.
Since Walters assumed leadership, Oklahoma schools have moved further right politically. In June 2024, he ordered public schools to teach the Bible, though those lessons will not appear on the certification test.
Teachers’ union leaders criticized the plan. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the test “a huge turn off” that will worsen teacher shortages. She accused Walters of focusing on “culture wars” instead of education.
Cari Elledge, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, called the requirement “a political stunt” that distracts from a severe teacher shortage. She said political ideology should not determine employment, noting state law requires recognition of out-of-state credentials if basic requirements are met.
Elledge said Oklahoma has about 30,000 certified teachers not working in classrooms, partly due to low morale from the political climate. She warned the PragerU partnership is partisan and outside legitimate education authority.
David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, echoed those concerns, saying the Oklahoma test seems like “hyper-political grandstanding” that could scare away educators when states are already struggling to recruit. He argued that teachers in both states share the same responsibility to care for students, regardless of political differences.
