In just a few months, Gov. Tim Walz’s new policy will prohibit practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in Minnesota’s public schools.
According to a report by Joy Pullmann, executive editor of the Federalist, this move is seen as bigoted and unconstitutional. Furthermore, there are concerns that similar policies could be implemented nationwide if Gov. Walz is elected vice president.
The state’s new teacher licensing rules, which are scheduled to come into effect in July 2025, are at the heart of this controversy.
The leftist governor’s plans mandate that teacher license applicants in the state must “affirm transgenderism and race Marxism.”
Without this license, no one will be able to teach in the state’s public schools or private schools that require this certification.
Specifically, the rules will demand: “The teacher fosters an environment that ensures student identities such as race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/emotional ability, socioeconomic class, and religious beliefs are historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment where students are empowered to learn and contribute as their whole selves.”
Administrative law judges have already sanctioned the anti-faith ideologies. According to the report, universities are also affected as they are now required to offer anti-Christian training.
The state has been pressuring teachers renewing their licenses to prove “cultural competency,” which involves demonstrating “self-reflection and discussion” of the state’s new ideologies.
Doug Seaton from the Upper Midwest Law Center stated that some “Christian” universities will comply, while others will quietly disobey and only take legal action when they face punishment.
The state action actually is called “compelled speech,” the report noted, which “is clearly unconstitutional.”
Seaton said, “They’re essentially requiring people to affirm these ideas that they don’t really believe, in many cases, as a condition of being a public school teacher or being part of a program to be a licensed public school teacher. You can’t force that kind of speech, you can’t require adherence to ideas that aren’t believed.”
The Federalist report noted an investigation by the Wall Street Journal found that “ethnic studies” demands in Minnesota “mirror” the demands for affirming sexual deviations.
For example, the report said, “Fourth-graders must ‘identify the processes and impacts of colonization and examine how discrimination and the oppression of various racial and ethnic groups have produced resistance movements.’
High-school students are told to ‘develop an analysis of racial capitalism’ and ‘anti-blackness’ and are taught to view themselves as members of ‘racialized hierarchies’ based on ‘dominant European beauty standards.’”
According to an analysis by the Child Protection League, the state is requiring teachers to acknowledge that teaching is influenced by race and ethnicity, potentially disadvantaging certain racial groups such as indigenous people, blacks, “Latinx Americans,” and others.
A state legislator has criticized Governor Walz for creating “horrific chaos” in schools by mandating that districts report student discipline based on race and strive for equal outcomes.
The consequences of these policies are evident in the plummeting student achievement in the state.
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