This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A major study shows that dozens of major school districts across the nation have biases in their teaching hiring procedures, making sure that leftist ideologies are embedded in their classrooms.
The study from the National Opportunity Project said its findings "raise serious legal questions in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision outlawing race-based college admissions. Employment policies in K-12 public schools that consider race, creed, and political ideology and are infused with biased language and decision-making processes unfairly, and sometimes illegally, skew hiring in favor of certain candidates."
The organization requested information from 74 districts across the nation, inquiring about hiring practices, standards, and questions.
Eighteen refused to respond or censored their records.
Of the 56 remaining, 23 districts "provided records that were flagged for ideological hiring biases."
Those included Edina's district in Minnesota, Clayton in Missouri, Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun County in Virginia, Spokane, Washington, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Montgomery in Maryland and Wellesley in Massachusetts, Mundelein 120, New Trier Township, Niles, Hinsdale, North Shore 112, Oak Park 92 and Oak Park River Forest 200 in Illinois, Denver, Washington, S.D., Broward in Florida, Atlanta, Gwinnett, and Decatur, Georgia, and Chicago.
The report explains to be hired, candidates "will have an anti-racist mindset and will work to dismantle systems of oppression and inequity in our community," which is the policy in Denver's schools.
According to Complete Colorado, one question asked of applicants in Denver is, "Do you think the classroom is an appropriate place to discuss race? Culture? If so, what do those discussions look like?"
"We had been hearing complaints from parents across the country saying things in my school are out of whack; they just don’t seem right," Daniel Suhr, NOP senior legal fellow, explained during a recent radio interview.
"So, we did a very basic thing and filed public records requests … and said ‘show us what application materials, what questions you ask, show us what criteria you use when you’re hiring teachers."
He noted the evidence now shows a lot of districts are hiring for "ideology and politics," not expertise in subject matter or teaching ability.
Complete Colorado reported Suhr hadn't expected such blatant bias.
"I was shocked, quite honestly,” Suhr said. “As a lawyer, this seems not only wrong but illegal. The First Amendment protects all of us in our right to hold our beliefs about politics and about faith, and that the government can’t discriminate against us based on our political beliefs."
He pointed out that teachers of math and science should be qualified in those subjects.
But he said in these districts, not meeting a political litmus test means candidates will face discrimination.
Some of the documents revealed in the Denver situation show that its statements included, "Redistribute resources to our most marginalized students, families, and team members," and "Lead for racial and educational excellence and work to dismantle systems of oppression and inequity in our community."
The report found there appeared to be "no room" in Denver for "teachers with views that contradict or demonize [leftist] ideology."
The report warned, "A kind of social engineering is at play when public schools limit their teaching force to those who share the same social or political views—or feel like they can’t disclose their opposition to controversial ideologies. One applicant who is penalized for challenging controversial doctrines is one too many."
