Minnesota Walz-appointed board requires teachers to ‘affirm’ their students' gender identities

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Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota has personally appointed members to the state's teachers board, a body that will require educators to "affirm" their students' gender identities, have "racial consciousness," and learn to "disrupt oppressive systems," public notices show.

The Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) updated its Standards of Effective Practice with new guidelines for aspiring state teachers that are set to take effect throughout the state in 2025. Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, was behind the appointment of all 13 PELSB members during his tenure as governor.

The new standards will require teachers in Minnesota to take controversial stances in their approach to teaching, such as "affirming" their student’s "gender," "gender identity" and "sexual orientation."

In order to become a licensed educator, the new standards also require that a teacher "understands multiple theories of identity formation" and takes "culturally affirming, and proactive approaches to behavior."

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Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  (Andrew Harnik)

The eighth section of the new standards, titled, "Racial Consciousness and Reflection," requires that a teacher "understands how ethnocentrism, eurocentrism, deficit-based teaching, and white supremacy undermine pedagogical equity."

The practice also requires a teacher to assess "how their biases, perceptions and academic training may affect their teaching practice and perpetuate oppressive systems and utilizes tools to mitigate their own behavior to disrupt oppressive systems."

Catrin Wigfall, education policy fellow at the American Experiment, a Minnesota conservative think tank, says that "there is concern that these changes will exacerbate the teacher shortage, discouraging aspiring educators from entering the profession out of fear they will be forced to incorporate ideological perspectives just to be able to do the job they love."

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"Gov. Tim Walz’s Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) plowed forward with making controversial changes to state teacher licensure requirements despite overwhelming pushback and criticism from the public. The changes will require aspiring educators to infuse ideologically-driven content into their licensure coursework (regardless of where they plan to teach), and the expectation is that this will then be implemented in their classrooms," Wigfall told Fox News Digital.

Those affected by the updated standards are "all teacher candidates completing an initial teacher licensure program in Minnesota and all teachers seeking an initial Tier 3 license via the licensure via portfolio process." (Ridofranz)

"The changes also make concerning and insulting generalizations about our teachers — that they are to consider themselves as biased with intersecting oppressive identities and that they need to be trained on how to treat others of different demographics with respect and dignity, celebrate student diversity, etc," Wigfall, a former public school teacher, told Fox.

Under the Walz-appointed board's new rules, students will be taught about "power, privilege, intersectionality, and systemic oppression in the context of the various communities."

A few hundred people gathered outside Coffman Memorial Union to call for a cease-fire in Gaza before marching on the Northrop Mall and setting up an encampment on the lawn Monday afternoon, April 29, 2024, on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. (Jeff Wheeler)

Those affected by the standards are "all teacher candidates completing an initial teacher licensure program in Minnesota and all teachers seeking an initial Tier 3 license via the licensure via portfolio process."

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Schools across the state are preparing to adopt these policies as Walz runs on the Democratic presidential ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris.