A recent law in New Jersey eliminated the need for aspiring teachers to pass a reading, writing, and math exam in order to receive their certification. In June of last year, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Act 1669 into law after it was overwhelmingly approved by the state senate in a 34-2 vote as part of the Garden State’s 2025 budget.

According to the law, “to obtain an instructional certificate, the State Board of Education shall not require a candidate seeking any certificate of instruction, except in the case of a limited certificate of eligibility or a limited certificate of eligibility with advanced standing … to complete a Commissioner of Education-approved test of basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills, including, but not limited to, the Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators test.”

The best way to address school understaffing, according to state leaders, is to lower standards for those who teach the next generation of Americans. The bill’s sponsor, state Senator Jim Beach (D-NJ), stated, “We need more teachers.” The best method to obtain them is this. Additionally, the New Jersey Education Association, a teachers’ union, was a strong supporter of the bill, arguing that the testing requirement was “an unnecessary barrier to entering the profession.”

Other news about the state of American education included a story in The American Tribune about Virginia parents retaliating against their children being exposed to “racially divisive” and woke content. Five families filed a lawsuit against Albermarle County Public Schools, located close to Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this year, alleging “discriminatory” practices.

“The five families are contesting the school board’s in-class implementation of a discriminatory policy that indoctrinates students in, and compels them to say they agree with, a racially divisive ideology,” according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group committed to fighting for causes like freedom of speech. In June 2022, the families filed an appeal after their case was dismissed by a lower court.

“Regardless of race or religion, every student deserves to be treated equally under the law.” According to ADF Senior Counsel Vincent Wagner, “public schools cannot impose demeaning stereotypes on students based on these characteristics.” It is the fundamental right of parents to be aware of what their children are learning in public schools and to shield them from curricula and policies that force them to adopt harmful ideologies. We implore the court to examine the school board’s discriminatory policy closely.

The group claimed that the school district’s actions violated students’ civil rights. By treating students differently, stereotyping them based on their race, and requiring them to embrace and support the board’s ideology—even if it goes against their strong moral and religious convictions—the policy infringes on their civil rights. According to the ADF, “the school labels any opinion not aligned with the curriculum as racist and threatens to punish dissent based on its redefinition of ‘racism.’ Parents in the school district are not allowed to opt their children out of classes that teach this ideology.”

See MTG’s explanation of how DOGE might cut “Democrat propaganda” here: