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Key Takeaways:
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Minnesota’s largest teachers union offers trainings like “Interrupting Whiteness” and LGBTQ+ seminars.
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State law now requires “cultural competency” courses for teacher license renewal.
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Academic scores remain dismal despite expanding ideological programs and new mandates.
Minnesota’s biggest teachers union is busy rolling out workshops with names like “Interrupting Whiteness,” “Culturally Responsive Teaching With a Racial Justice Lens,” and “LGBTQ+ Training.” Meanwhile, the state’s actual academic performance is tanking. More than half of Minnesota 4th graders can’t meet national standards, two-thirds of 8th graders can’t pass math, and nearly three-quarters can’t read proficiently. But instead of attacking the crisis in front of them, the union is doubling down on ideological coursework that teachers must complete just to renew their licenses.
The union’s website reads like a political pamphlet—claiming police are used to punish minority students, blaming “attacks on honesty in education,” and promoting resource pages on anti-racism, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and systemic oppression. Not one word about how to boost literacy or fix math instruction.
This is the modern education disaster: classrooms drowning in activism while academic achievement sinks like a stone. Kids need teachers who can teach, not mandated ideology sessions.
From Western Journal:
Minnesota’s largest teachers union is under fire this week over its “professional development” courses on topics such as “Interrupting Whiteness” and “LGBTQ+ Training.”
The “racial equity trainings” can be brought “to your building” when requested by Education Minnesota members, the union website explains, and offer instruction on topics like “Culturally Responsive Teaching With a Racial Justice Lens” and “Cultural Competency.”
Educators in the state are required to fulfill a “cultural competency” training in order to renew their teaching licenses, which can include topics such as “Systemic Racism,” “Gender Identity, Including Transgender Students,” “Language Diversity,” and more, according to the state government page.
The union website features similar content across the board, offering materials on “anti-immigrant rhetoric,” various “anti-racism” resources, and a “racial and social justice” page claiming “certain politicians” are using police officers against minority students.
“Most of us believe that every child, no matter what they look like or where they come from, deserves a safe and welcoming school where they can thrive,” it says. “But certain politicians try to divide us by sending police to monitor and punish Black and brown students in schools that have been denied funding to even cover the basics, while ensuring well-resourced schools with mostly white students have enrichment activities, teacher training, and parent engagement.”
The website also names “the murder of George Floyd” and “attacks on honesty in education” as hardships the group is fighting against.
Education Minnesota’s programs are part of the “Facing Inequities and Racism in Education” series, designed to “disrupt systemic racism and racial inequities in Minnesota’s education system.” The union operates a “Racial Equity Advocate network” and offers “Equity EdCamps.”
Education Minnesota did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, more than half of 4th-grade students in Minnesota tested below the national proficiency standard in 2024. About 66 percent of 8th-grade students tested below proficient in math in the same year, and 72 percent tested below proficient in reading.
Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the former vice presidential nominee, signed a law in 2024 that funded race-based teacher trainings and aimed to increase the number of “diverse” teachers in schools. In 2023, Walz signed a law requiring schools to offer “ethnic studies” courses, introducing children to racially divisive topics beginning in kindergarten.
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