Committee lays over bill to require "medically accurate" STI education in schools

Senate File 1048, carried by Senator Maquaid, would revise Minnesota's required instruction on sexually transmitted infections and related topics by clarifying language and expanding coverage.

The bill proposes four principal changes, according to the author: replace the statute's phrase "technically accurate" with "medically accurate"; remove the phrase "until marriage" from abstinence coverage and add instruction on other prevention methods; require programming to be inclusive of students regardless of protected status; and remove a statutory requirement that schools target only students the district deems "at risk" for STI instruction.

Experts and students urged passage. Dr. Meg Bartlett Chase, founder of Honest Sex Ed Minnesota, said clarity matters because school districts and teachers rely on statute to implement curriculum. "If Minnesota has a statute that defines and requires STI education programming, it does matter that that statute actually delivers the clarity and information needed for districts to successfully implement instruction that prevents STIs," she testified.

Steven Chapin, an in-class health teacher at St. James High School and member of the Minnesota Department of Education's health standards development committee, said fear-based instruction that centers only on abstinence harms students and that the statute should allow teachers and standards developers to use medically accurate language. Rasana Mamdani, a Saint Paul Central High School student and member of the health standards development committee, described a classroom experience she said was not medically accurate and said accurate instruction would help students delay sexual activity and make safer choices.

Parents and other advocates also supported the changes. Elizabeth Schultz Newton cited a University of Minnesota study she said found 90% of Minnesota parents support the proposed language.

Committee members discussed implementation and local control. Senator Duckworth asked whether districts and school boards had been consulted; the author said the state is updating health standards and this bill would align statute with that standards process. The committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill; testimony and advocates were recorded for the committee record.

Action recorded: SF 1048 laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.