State Education Superintendent Ryan Walters says he holds teacher candidates from other states to another level of scrutiny.
Oklahoma’s education chief announced on Aug. 14 that the Sooner State’s public schools are kicking off the 2025–2026 academic year with 4,000 new “America first” teachers who he said won’t promote ideologies inconsistent with state-approved curriculum.
Those teachers, Oklahoma Education Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a statement, “are committed to putting students before woke politics.”
“In Oklahoma, we remain committed to protecting parents, rights, religious freedom, and President [Donald] Trump’s America First agenda,” he said.
Ahead of this academic year, which has already started in some Oklahoma districts, Walters asked the PragerU organization to develop an “America first” screening tool to filter out prospective teachers from other states who promote progressive ideologies such as transgenderism.
A July 16 video on the PragerU website confirms that the organization developed the tool at the superintendent’s request.
The screening process includes a test with multiple-choice questions on the definition of biological sex, the first passages of the Constitution, and the three branches of the federal government, CNN reported on Aug. 15.
PragerU confirmed to The Epoch Times in an email that such a test is used to screen out-of-state teacher applicants, and passing it is a requirement for Oklahoma certification. No additional information was provided.
“The test is not available to the public yet, but will be soon,” the organization said.
Responding to public criticism that the screening practice is discriminatory, PragerU Outreach Director Jill Simonian said in the July 16 video that out-of-state applicants are only required to demonstrate their knowledge of three areas—the fundamentals of the U.S. Constitution, the definition of American exceptionalism, and “basic biology.”
Simonian said establishing additional requirements for teacher applicants, based on the curriculum, are a common practice in many states.
“So why is knowing the Constitution a deterrent?“ he said. ”It’s OK for Oklahoma to require certain things from educators and students.”
PragerU provides free learning materials to Oklahoma public schools. Some of the content is available on the organization’s website.
