HF3730

Purpose

This bill aims to update Minnesota’s K-12 education policy and related areas to strengthen supports for students, expand equity-focused standards, and shift bullying policies toward more restorative, trauma-informed approaches. It also extends policy changes to charter schools and state agencies, and emphasizes involvement from diverse stakeholders, including Tribal Nations and communities of color.

Main Provisions

• Homeless students (Minnesota Statutes 120A.391)

  • Definition: A child experiencing homelessness includes those lacking a fixed, regular, adequate nighttime residence, such as sharing housing due to loss of housing, staying in motels/hotels/camping grounds, emergency or transitional shelters, abandoned in a hospital, living in cars or public spaces, or migratory youth meeting these conditions.
  • Identification and enrollment: Districts/charter schools must identify homeless students, designate a homeless liaison, and enroll the student immediately (even if records are missing).
  • Services and supports: Schools must provide educational services and supports (comparable to other students), transportation to and from the school of origin when in the child’s best interest, remove enrollment barriers (e.g., supplies, meals), and coordinate with housing, social services, mental health, and other providers.
  • School stability and best interest: A child may remain at the school of origin for the duration of homelessness or through the end of the academic year in which they obtain permanent housing. Staying at the school of origin is presumed to be in the child’s best interest unless the parent/guardian or unaccompanied youth disagree.
  • Records transfer and dispute resolution: Educational and health records should transfer promptly; if there’s a dispute over school selection, the child must be enrolled immediately pending resolution, with written explanations and an appeal process.

• Education of migratory children (Minnesota Statutes 120A.392)

  • Definition: A migratory child is one who has moved in the past 36 months across districts to engage in temporary or seasonal agricultural or fishing work, or to accompany/join a family member doing so.
  • Identification and enrollment: Districts must identify migratory children and enroll them immediately, even without typical records.
  • Services: Provide tailored educational services to meet their needs, including supplemental instruction, support for educational disruption, and coordination with other programs.
  • Continuity of services: Ensure rapid transfer of educational and health records and support appropriate course placement.

• Standards development (Minnesota Statutes 120B.021 Subd.2)

  • Stakeholders: The commissioner must seek input from parents, teachers, principals, school boards, postsecondary faculty, the business community, Tribal Nations Education Committee, Tribal Nations, Anishinaabe and Dakota communities, and students (with input from the Minnesota Youth Council).
  • Standards requirements: Academic standards must be clear, concise, objective, measurable, and grade-level appropriate; they must not mandate a specific teaching method or curriculum and must align with the U.S. and Minnesota constitutions.

• Definitions related to standards and learning (Minnesota Statutes 120B.11 Subd.1, amended)

  • Instruction: Methods that help students meet standards and graduation requirements, including applied/experiential learning.
  • Curriculum: Programs and plans for delivering learning experiences.
  • Comprehensive achievement and civic readiness: Goals include closing achievement gaps, preparing students for career and college readiness, ensuring graduation, and promoting lifelong learning.
  • Experiential learning: Career exploration and work-based experiences (e.g., internships, mentoring, service learning, youth apprenticeship, etc.).
  • Ethnic studies, antiracist, culturally sustaining, and institutional racism: Ethnic studies has a defined meaning; antiracist means actively addressing racism; culturally sustaining means integrating the culture and language of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities; institutional racism involves structures and practices that produce disadvantages for BIPOC groups.

• Bullying interventions and supports (Minnesota Statutes 121A.032)

  • Purpose: Create safe, supportive, and inclusive school environments; recognize that punitive approaches alone are insufficient; emphasize preventive and healing-focused measures.
  • Definitions: Actor (bullying perpetrator) and target (bullying victim); supportive interventions include trauma-informed assessments, culturally responsive mental health services, restorative practices, counseling, and targeted supports.
  • Required supports: Schools must provide supportive interventions for both the target and the actor, addressing root causes (e.g., trauma, mental health needs) and connecting families to appropriate services; interventions should build empathy, conflict resolution, and healthy relationships.
  • Equity in implementation: Interventions must be provided equitably and not disproportionately exclude or punish students based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, or other protected characteristics.
  • Policy alignment and timing: Districts must review and revise bullying prevention policies to reflect the bill’s language, removing references to remedial responses and emphasizing comprehensive supportive interventions; policies must be adopted before the 2027-2028 school year.

Significant Changes to Law

• Enroll homeless and migratory students immediately and minimize enrollment barriers, with a strong emphasis on school-of-origin considerations and rapid transfer of records.
• Formal incorporation of anti-racism, ethnic studies, and culturally sustaining concepts into core standards, including explicit definitions of antiracist and institutional racism.
• Expanded stakeholder involvement in standards development, ensuring input from Tribal Nations and diverse communities.
• Shift in bullying policy from punitive/remedial approaches to comprehensive, trauma-informed supportive interventions that address underlying causes and promote equity.
• Clear timelines for policy revisions and adoption, pushing districts to align with the new framework by specific future dates.

Implementation Considerations

• Increased coordination requirements for homeless and migratory students, including designated liaisons and cross-agency collaboration.
• Administrative and training needs for staff to apply trauma-informed, culturally responsive supports and restorative practices.
• Possible impacts on transportation planning (e.g., transportation to school of origin) and record-keeping processes across districts.
• Ongoing development of standards with broad stakeholder engagement, including tribal communities and youth voices.

Relevant Terms homelessness, child experiencing homelessness, school of origin, best interest, unaccompanied homeless youth, homeless liaison, enrollment, records transfer, educational services, transportation, migratory child, temporary or seasonal agricultural or fishing work, identification, immediate enrollment, continuity of services, supplemental instruction, experiential learning, career and college readiness, ethnic studies, antiracist, culturally sustaining, institutional racism, bullying, actor, target, supportive interventions, trauma-informed, restorative practices, mental health services, equity.