# Oklahoma Just Created a Loyalty Test for Teachers. This Should Terrify You.

### The state that ranks dead last in education is now screening out California and New York educators for being too “woke”. Here’s what this means for American education.

[Kahlil Greene](https://substack.com/@kahlilgreene)  
Aug 21, 2025

Oklahoma just became the first state to require teachers from specific blue states to pass an ideological screening test before they can work in public schools. The "America First" exam, designed by the conservative media company PragerU, targets educators moving from California and New York with questions intended to filter out anyone who might teach about systemic racism, LGBTQ+ rights, or climate change.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced the policy this week, saying any teacher coming from these two states must pass the 50-question assessment before receiving certification. The test asks teachers to identify "which chromosome pair indicates a woman" and explain why freedom of religion is important to America's identity, among other questions designed to ensure educators promote "American exceptionalism."

PragerU CEO Marissa Streit told CNN that several questions on the assessment relate to "undoing the damage of gender ideology." The company, despite its name, is not an accredited university and has long faced criticism for spreading inaccurate information in its educational videos.

### Teacher Shortage vs Political Theater

Oklahoma desperately needs teachers. The state ranks dead last in public education and faces severe teacher shortages. Yet this controversial policy affects fewer than 20 people per year. Since 2020, only 19 out of 573 out-of-state teaching applications came from California and New York combined.

Walters has indicated the policy could expand to target teachers from Connecticut, Illinois, Minnesota, and other states he considers too liberal. He told reporters that teachers from California and New York hold views "completely a 180" from Oklahoma values, particularly regarding gender and American exceptionalism.

Critics point out that Oklahoma already struggles to attract qualified educators due to below-average salaries and hostile political climate. The American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten called the test a "MAGA loyalty test" that will further deter teachers from working in a state that desperately needs them.

### McCarthyism in American Education

This type of ideological screening has deep historical roots in American education. During the McCarthy era of the 1950s, teachers across the country were required to sign loyalty oaths and faced investigation for suspected communist sympathies. Many qualified educators lost their jobs for their political beliefs or associations.

The practice extended beyond individual careers to reshape entire curricula. School districts removed books, altered history lessons, and avoided controversial topics to avoid scrutiny. The long-term effect was a generation of students who received sanitized education that avoided uncomfortable truths about American history and society.

Oklahoma's current policy follows this same pattern, using state power to enforce ideological conformity in classrooms rather than focusing on educational quality or student outcomes.

### PragerU's Growing Influence

The Oklahoma test is a significant escalation in the broader campaign to reshape American education along partisan lines. PragerU, which openly states its goal is to counter "left-wing ideology in culture, media and education," now has official power to gatekeep who can teach in public schools.

The company's educational content has been approved for use in ten states, including Texas, Florida, and Arizona. Its videos present controversial topics like intelligent design as valid science and claim that "America began the conversation to end" slavery, which historians have widely criticized as inaccurate.

If this model spreads to other states, as Walters has suggested, it could create a patchwork system where teachers face different ideological requirements depending on where they want to work. This would effectively segregate American education along political lines and drive qualified educators away from states that implement such tests.

### Supporting Independent Education Journalism

This newsletter exists to expose exactly these kinds of policies and connect them to the broader patterns of how American history gets rewritten. Mainstream media is covering this story as isolated "education reform" without showing the systematic effort to control historical narratives in classrooms.

The stakes couldn't be higher. When states start screening teachers for political loyalty, they're deciding what the next generation of Americans will be allowed to learn about their own country.