The Minnesota Department of Education recently published its notice of intent to adopt new K-12 health standards. In Minnesota, revisions to academic standards follow a formal rulemaking process, which includes drafting proposed standards, publishing official notices, and opening a public comment period before the standards can be finalized and adopted.
It is important to note that the public comment period associated with this part of the rulemaking process applies only to the broad health standards themselves, not to the benchmarks that support them. Standards outline the broad learning expectations for students, while benchmarks provide more detailed guidance on how those standards are expected to be taught at different grade levels.
You may recall my article on Draft 2 of the standards and benchmarks that pointed out concerning content on gender identity, such as requiring third graders to “describe internal and external reproductive body parts using medically accurate terms in a gender-neutral way” and “explain the difference between sex assigned at birth and gender identity and expression.” Other third-grade benchmarks included requiring students to “define gender identity and expression.”
More than 8,000 comments were submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education on Draft 2, and the benchmarks in the paragraph above have been removed from the latest version that was recently approved by the commissioner of education. In fact, there are no references to “gender” at all throughout the document.
One notable addition, though, in this latest version from Draft 2 is that Ethnic Studies has been added as a “cross-disciplinary health context” across various benchmarks. The Ethnic Studies context includes “recognizing how systems of power, identity, and equity influence health outcomes,” which is in line with the liberated version of Ethnic Studies now in the state’s social studies standards that are set to be implemented in all K-12 classrooms starting next fall.
The 2024 DFL-controlled legislature passed the mandate to create statewide K-12 health standards, and health now joins other required statewide K-12 academic standards — language arts, math, science, social studies, physical education, and arts — that will go through the state’s rulemaking process for review and revision on a 10-year cycle. As required by state law, Ethnic Studies will be embedded across all required academic standards as they come up for review and revision.
The public comment period for the K-12 health standards closes at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. You can find instructions on how to submit comments through the Minnesota Court of Administrative Hearings here. If at least 25 people include in their comments a request for a hearing of the proposed rules, the administrative law judge overseeing the rulemaking process will conduct a virtual hearing on March 16 and March 17, 2026. Otherwise, the Minnesota Department of Education intends to adopt the health standards without a public hearing.
Again, though, the only area the administrative law judge overseeing the rulemaking process will consider feedback on is for the proposed K-12 health standards themselves, not the benchmarks the Minnesota Department of Education has paired with them. It appears benchmarks written by the Minnesota Department of Education do not have a formal review and approval process outside of the agency itself. (We experienced this with the recently revised K-12 social studies standards, where most of the concerning and ideologically-driven content is within the benchmarks.)
However, parents should always remember that under Minnesota Statute 120B.20 they can opt their child out of health/sex education and make “reasonable arrangements” with the school for alternative instruction. A parent may also provide the alternative instruction themselves. Students cannot be academically penalized for being withdrawn from the lesson.
