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State Rep. Jaime Greene (R-Richmond) has criticized the Michigan Department of Education’s proposed “Health Education Standards,” arguing that the changes would undermine parental rights and local authority over school curriculum.

Greene stated, “The state law is clear — curriculum about sex education belongs in the hands of local school boards and parents, not Lansing bureaucrats.” She expressed concern that by classifying sex education content as general health instruction, the proposal would require all students to participate and remove parents from the decision-making process. “By reclassifying sex-ed content as general health instruction, this proposal forces every student to participate and cuts parents out of the conversation entirely.”

Currently, Michigan law (MCL 380.1507) gives local advisory boards and school boards the responsibility to approve curriculum, while parents have the right to be notified and to opt their children out of sex education classes. Greene said the proposed standards violate this law and damage trust between families and schools.

She added, “The Board should not be advancing ideological content when it is operating without a superintendent and without public consent. Michigan parents deserve to be partners in their children’s education, not bystanders.”

Greene called on the State Board to withdraw or delay the proposal, urging collaboration with the Legislature to review any updates to health curriculum through standard legislative procedures. “This is a matter of parental rights and constitutional governance,” she said. “Any policy change of this magnitude must be debated in the people’s house, not decided by unelected administrators.”