Committee lays over bill to repeal ethnic-studies mandate after hours of student and educator testimony

The Minnesota House Education Finance Committee on Feb. 27 laid over House File 29 for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill after more than two hours of public testimony and debate over whether the state should keep a statutory mandate to embed ethnic studies across K‑12 standards.

House File 29, authored by Representative Kresha and introduced in the committee by the chair, would repeal the statutory requirement to embed ethnic‑studies standards across subjects and suspend implementation of the revised social studies standards until 2031. The bill also would cancel several appropriations intended to support ethnic‑studies implementation, including district grants and department staffing.

Supporters of keeping the standards said the change would disrupt districts that are already implementing the 2021 social studies standards and that students and teachers have seen academic and engagement benefits from ethnic‑studies coursework. ‘‘The 2021 standards have already been through . . . countless hours of public input, and legal scrutiny,’’ said Tim Bayosic, a current social‑studies teacher and former Army captain, who testified in opposition to HF 29. School district representatives from St. Paul and Minneapolis told the committee local…