Case File 02
The Education Takeover
Since 2023, PragerU Kids — the children's division of the media nonprofit PragerU — has gone from a YouTube channel to an official "approved vendor" in more than ten state education departments. Here's the documented timeline.
What "approved vendor" means
PragerU isn't accredited as an academic institution. source "Approval" from a state education department just means its materials meet that state's supplemental-content standards and can be bought with state funds — districts aren't required to use them. Florida's education department, for one, confirmed its review found PragerU Kids content aligned with the state's civics and government standards, though it stressed districts still choose for themselves whether to use it. source
Timeline of state approvals
Florida becomes the first state to approve PragerU Kids
Florida's Department of Education confirmed it reviewed and approved PragerU Kids as a supplemental classroom resource for grades K-5, aligned with the state's revised civics and government standards. source PragerU hadn't submitted a bid for the state's formal social-studies instructional-materials adoption — this was a separate vendor approval. source
Oklahoma partners directly with PragerU
State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced an ongoing partnership with PragerU and posted its materials to the state education department's website. A year later, he invited Dennis Prager and other conservative media figures to help build Oklahoma's new social studies standards — standards now facing scrutiny for an explicitly Christian framing, and a court challenge from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. source source
Texas, Montana, Louisiana, South Carolina add approvals
PragerU's own state-announcements page lists Louisiana's social studies curriculum incorporating PragerU Kids content and videos aligned to state standards, plus South Carolina folding PragerU Kids' civics and financial-literacy resources into its official statewide learning portal. source
Idaho, Utah, Alaska, Arizona follow
Utah's State Board of Education approved PragerU's financial-literacy modules as an "Approved Teacher Resource." Alaska partnered with PragerU on a statewide financial-literacy site for teachers and students. PragerU says publicly that more states are "in the works." source
The teacher-certification link in Oklahoma
It's not just curriculum. Oklahoma's superintendent now requires teachers relocating from New York and California to complete a new "America First" certification course before they can get licensed in the state — a policy reported alongside the state's PragerU partnership by the watchdog group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. source