Religious liberty expert says Minnesota’s new regulations are dangerous, was violate First Amendment right of educators
According to guidelines set to take effect in July, current and aspiring teachers will need to make sure they are properly supportive of the LGBT plan in order to be licensed to teach in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s new” Standards of Effective Practice” require teachers to” ]foster ] an environment that ensures student identities”, including” sexual orientation”, are “historically and socially contextualized, affirmed, and incorporated into a learning environment where students are empowered to learn and contribute as their whole selves”.
The specifications, supported by the government’s Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, a prominent Supreme Court dispute party, have raised questions about religious liberty.
In public, a condition has the extensive authority to set up the curriculum for its public schools, according to Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Tyson Langhofer, who spoke to The College Fix via a press release.” Teachers usually cannot object to that education,” Langhofer said. ” This means that the condition government can tell its public-school faculty to instruct the idea of a certain ideology, political thought, or faith”.
According to Langhofer, the state may force teachers to adhere to a particular ideology or belief through their speech or behavior, according to Langhofer.
The fresh guidelines for successful teaching in Minnesota appear to accomplish just that. The requirements don’t just need teachers to train a particular curriculum”, he said. The methods that might be in violation of their legal rights appear to be required by teachers.
According to Langhofer, First Amendment safeguards could be used to retaliate against the requirements.
” If teachers are made to physically support ideas that they reject or engage in in derogatory religious training, they may be able to refute these teaching methods by arguing that their freedom of exercise is being violated. It all depends on how these new criteria are implemented”, he said.
His company is not a stranger to civil rights and First Amendment claims in the classroom. As recently reported by The Fix, ADF has effectively defended a teacher who was disciplined for refusing to use a person’s trans nouns.
What’s more, the new laws also require teachers to focus on intersectionality in their training.
Professors may be able to help students learn about “power, pleasure, intersectionality, and systemic tyranny in the context of several communities”, according to the specifications. They should also” ]empower ] learners to be agents of social change to promote equity”.
Educators should also use “anti-racist” training techniques, according to the standards.
The Fix emailed Minnesota Department of Education officials, including senior director Yelena Bailey and communications consultant Tanwaporn Chino, to get more details about the federal government’s role in preserving the right to free speech and religion in training, but they were not contacted.
The Fix even contacted North Central University, Bethel University, and Crown College to inquire about their takes on the new requirements, but received no response.  ,
While the condition emphasizes identity, some students have trouble with simple math and reading.
For example, just 12 percent of black people school ninth graders are proficient in reading, according to the country’s 2022 record. Although eighth graders average only one point above the national average, their total proficiency is lower. Additionally, exam results are lower than they were in 1998.
Only 15 % of Hispanic eighth graders and 35 % of white eighth graders have reading skills.
Further: Wayne State asks’ company partners’ to create’ DEI pledge ‘
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