By Matthew Impelli
Life & Trends Reporter
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The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill this week that would require students in the state to pass a U.S. citizenship test in order to graduate from high school.
Authored by Representative Terry O'Donnell, the bill, HB 2030, would require students to pass the civics portion of the U.S. naturalization test in order to graduate in the 2022-23 school year. The legislation was passed in the House with a 80-18 vote and will now face action in the Senate.
"Unfortunately, too many of our students graduate high school without basic knowledge of how our nation was founded or how our system of government works," O'Donnell said in a statement. "This legislation would help correct that, leading to a more engaged and informed electorate in the future."
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According to the lawmaker, the bill would require the inclusion of studying historical documents, such as the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation in history, social studies, and U.S. government courses within Oklahoma public schools.
In a video posted to Facebook, O'Donnell explained that his proposal of the bill came from a request by a constituent.
"It came to my attention last year that high school students' knowledge of civics and government was really deficient and we had like the fifth lowest voter participation in ages 18-24 in the state of Oklahoma," O'Donnell said in the clip. "So, this constituent contacted me about having our high school students as a qualification to graduate taking the immigration and naturalization test as all foreigners entering our country do to become U.S. citizens."
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The bill would require students to "achieve a bare minimum of a score of 60 in order to pass the test before graduation."
"That is not too high of a bar for young adults who will become part of our work force and our communities, and who will be future voters and perhaps even members of our government bodies," O'Donnell said.
As he noted in his statement, several other states have enacted similar legislation to Oklahoma's HB 2030 bill. According to a 2018 report from the Center For American Progress, 16 other states require a civics test to graduate.
Newsweek was directed to O'Donnell's previous remarks on the bill after reaching out to his office for comment.
Democratic Representative Emily Virgin was one of the few that voted against the bill.
"While I think it is important for students to know important concepts about how our government works, I voted against this bill, and I want to explain why," Virgin wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. "First, all of these concepts are already taught in our schools. This bill simply adds another standardized test and another hurdle before our students can graduate. It's a multiple choice test and lends itself to rote memorization."
"Second, I couldn't help but think about the hypocrisy in this legislative body by requiring students pass a test that includes concepts we ourselves do not follow," she further explained.
She added that "one of the questions on the tests asks about the powers of the judicial branch and the correct answer involves the power of the judicial branch to decide if a law goes against the constitution."
"However, just last week, the majority party in the House passed a bill saying that we, as a state legislature, have the power to declare federal actions unconstitutional. (HB 1236)," Virgin wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Virgin's office for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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