Republican-led Oklahoma will require public school teachers from California and New York to pass a test before working in the state, according to the Sooner State’s schools superintendent.
Teachers from the two largest Democrat-led states will need to show they know “the biological differences between females and males” and that they agree with the state’s U.S. history standards, Superintendent Ryan Walters told USA Today.
Teachers moving in from California and New York must earn the Department of Education’s new certification to ensure they “are not coming into our classrooms and indoctrinating kids,” Walters told the outlet.
“A lot of the credit goes to Gavin Newsom,” Walters said of California’s progressive governor.
Walters said the blue-state teachers’ test will be finalized by Aug. 15 and the test will be available the week of Aug. 18.
To draw more teachers to the state, Oklahoma is offering bonuses that go up to $50,000.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education on Thursday welcomed students for the new school year by highlighting “historic education reforms that put parents back in charge, strengthen academic standards, and roll back unnecessary federal mandates.”
“Over the past year, Oklahoma has worked to restore America’s foundations in education by updating history standards to reflect the Bible’s historical significance and its influence on the founding of our nation,” the OSDE said in a release.
“We have also been recruiting the best America First teachers, certifying over 4,000 new educators who are committed to putting students before woke politics, and our summer learning programs have been a tremendous success.”
Liberals are not happy about the Oklahoma test for California and New York teachers.
“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,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said.
“If he wants to be MAGA in chief then go be MAGA in chief. But let someone else be educator in chief and focus on other things people deserve, which is reading, literacy, and wraparound services – and actual teachers who want to be in Oklahoma.”
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Walters to run the state’s education department in September 2020. Voters elected him to a second term in November 2022.
In June, an Oklahoma Judge granted Walters’ motion to dismiss a history standards lawsuit. Thus, Oklahoma schools will “teach what happened in the 2020 election and ask kids to think critically.”
“The left may not like it, they may kick and scream, but Oklahoma students will know history,” the OSDE said. “Additionally, the Bible is a core founding document and kids in Oklahoma will be taught its influences throughout key moments of history.”
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
