LANSING, Mich. — State Rep. Jaime Greene (R-Richmond) today condemned the Michigan Department of Education’s proposed “Health Education Standards,” calling them an unprecedented administrative power grab that would strip parents of their legal rights and override local control.

“The state law is clear — curriculum about sex education belongs in the hands of local school boards and parents, not Lansing bureaucrats,” Greene said. “By reclassifying sex-ed content as general health instruction, this proposal forces every student to participate and cuts parents out of the conversation entirely.”

Under current statute (MCL 380.1507), local advisory boards and school boards approve curriculum, and parents have the right to be notified and opt their children out of sex-education instruction. Greene said the new proposal violates that law and betrays the trust between families and schools.

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

Greene urged the State Board to withdraw or postpone the proposal and to work collaboratively with the Legislature to evaluate legitimate health curriculum updates through the proper law-making process. “This is a matter of parental rights and constitutional governance,” Greene said. “Any policy change of this magnitude must be debated in the people’s house, not decided by unelected administrators.”