Holland Reporter

State Representative Luke Meerman, who chairs the House Oversight Subcommittee on Child Welfare, has expressed concerns about recently proposed updates to Michigan’s health education standards. The State Board of Education approved a draft update in September, marking the first changes since 2007. These proposed standards would add new lessons on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation for students in grades 6 through 8.

Meerman argues that these changes could bypass existing requirements for local parental advisory boards to review and approve reproductive health curricula. “State law is very clear. Reproductive health education must be developed locally with direct parental input and the ability for families to opt out,” said Meerman, of Coopersville. “Shuffling these sensitive topics into the general health education curriculum is a clear attempt to evade those safeguards – a backdoor attempt to teach controversial material in the classroom without parents’ knowledge or consent.”

He further stated that the proposal weakens parental rights and introduces what he described as politically motivated ideology into classrooms rather than focusing on academic achievement. “Instead of working to close those gaps in our failed education system, bureaucrats in Lansing are prioritizing lessons on gender theory and removing the very parental oversight designed to protect families,” Meerman said. “That’s wrong, and Michigan parents see right through it.”

The House Oversight Subcommittee on Child Welfare has recently held hearings regarding these proposed standards and their impact on local control and parental involvement. Meerman emphasized his commitment to ensuring state education officials comply with legal requirements and maintain transparency with parents. “Parents are the first and most important teachers in a child’s life,” Meerman said. “Any curriculum that touches on sensitive issues must be developed transparently and with their full involvement.”