Vice Presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz finds himself at the center of a new scandal following a report that revealed his administration effectively banned practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in public schools. New teacher licensing rules, set to take effect in July 2025, will require educators to affirm transgenderism and other culturally sensitive issues that clash with many religious teachings.

The Federalist, a conservative news outlet, broke the story, highlighting the significant implications of these changes. The new regulations, passed under Governor Walz, mandate that teachers must foster an environment that affirms students’ identities, including their gender identity and sexual orientation, as a condition for receiving a teaching license. The policy applies not only to public schools but also to private schools that require state licenses for their educators.

The outlet reported that the rules will “ban practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in public schools” due to the conflict these requirements pose with their religious beliefs. Teachers are expected to “affirm” students’ gender identities and sexual orientations, a requirement that religious educators argue forces them to violate their faith. Universities that train future teachers will be required to incorporate these new standards into their programs or risk losing their ability to offer state licensing to their graduates.

According to the new standards, teachers must ensure that student identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, and 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.” This puts religious teachers in a difficult position, as affirming these identities may go against their core beliefs.

Doug Seaton, founder and president of the nonprofit Upper Midwest Law Center, expressed his concerns over the regulations. He said that while some Christian universities in Minnesota may comply with the new rules, others are reluctant to do so. “Some are not willing to do it [file a lawsuit] until they actually have their college programs tagged for noncompliance or their graduates actually not licensed as a consequence of not adhering to these standards,” he said on the phone to The Federalist.

Under Walz, Minnesota has been shifting further left. Walz has made diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a cornerstone of his agenda, even though these policies have faced significant opposition. His very first executive order created a DEI council, and his administration has been relentless in pushing for more progressive education policies, despite resistance from those who believe these efforts are divisive.

The policies, including the new teacher licensing rules, are driving the state’s education system in a dangerous direction. During Walz’s time in office, Minnesota has seen a troubling decline in student achievement, outpacing the rest of the nation. Notably, fourth-grade reading scores have fallen below the national average for the first time in recorded history, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The piece also critiqued the introduction of new social studies standards and ethnic studies into the curriculum, labeling them as ideologically driven. The state’s national education rankings have also dropped, with Minnesota falling from 5th place in 2018 to 17th in recent assessments.

Currently, Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz are launching a bus tour in battleground Georgia on Wednesday, fresh off the DNC. As part of their campaign push, Harris and Walz will join CNN for their first joint interview on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. This will be Harris’s first in-depth, on-the-record interview since Joe Biden ended his bid for re-election.