Committee refers bill to return K–12 health-education decisions to local school boards

The House Education Policy Committee on Feb. 18 re‑referred House File 65, a bill that would remove statewide K–12 academic standards in health and return curriculum decisions to locally elected school boards.

Vice Chair Mueller moved the referral. Proponents of HF 65, including Linda Leiding of the Minnesota School Boards Association, said local districts are best positioned to tailor health curricula to community needs and values and to ensure local accountability. "Local control allows parents to have a greater voice in the health education that their children receive," Leiding said.

Opponents, including the Minnesota Youth Council and several public-health and youth‑advocacy organizations, urged the committee to preserve statewide standards to ensure consistent access to mental-health instruction, CPR/AED training, vaping and substance-use prevention, reproductive-health information and other core topics. Janet Jimenez of the Women's Foundation and representatives of the Minnesota Youth Council told the committee students across the state report uneven access to health instruction and asked lawmakers to keep a uniform baseline. "We found overwhelming consensus that young people want to see universal and uniform health standards across the state," the Youth Council said through staff testimony.

Minnesota Department of Education staff told the committee that the state follows a multi‑stakeholder, decade‑cycle revision process for academic standards and that statewide expectations establish consistent, research‑informed baselines while leaving delivery decisions to local schools. A department official said consistent statewide expectations for health education help ensure students across Minnesota receive instruction on topics that affect lifelong well‑being.

Students and educators who testified described personal experiences with variable instruction. A 16‑year‑old student said, "Students need to learn about their health in schools and deserve to have consistent information." A member of a school district board said returning control to local districts would allow curricula to align more closely with local values and demographics.

The committee chair renewed the motion to refer HF 65 to the Education Finance Committee; members voted and the motion prevailed. The vote was recorded as "ayes have it" in committee minutes; no roll-call vote was entered into the record during the hearing.

HF 65 will proceed to Education Finance, where lawmakers will consider fiscal and implementation implications of removing the statewide health standards.