U.S. Supreme Court decision could prompt more Minnesota parents to opt students out of some lessons

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing parents to pull their child out of class during lessons that conflict with their religious beliefs has school leaders across the country worried about a potential flurry of “opt-out” requests.

But the decision, split 6-3 along the justices’ ideological lines, may not require immediate changes for Minnesota’s schools. Several districts have already faced cultural clashes over books, including controversy and legal action over removing library books in St. Francis schools and parent pushback on classroom books with LGBTQ themes in St. Louis Park, Ham Lake and Burnsville schools. It’s possible districts will face another wave of requests after the court ruling.

The Supreme Court case involved a group of Maryland parents who sued the school board, seeking to keep their students out of class when lessons involved books with LGBTQ characters.

Minnesota has a decades-old law requiring school districts to have a procedure for a parent to review instructional materials. If parents have an objection, the law requires schools to make “reasonable arrangements” for an alternative lesson.

The Minnesota School Boards Association’s model policy quotes that statute but does not outline what the process should be, and it varies from district to district.

The association doesn’t plan to change model policy language based on the Supreme Court ruling, said Terry Morrow, the organization’s director of legal and policy services.

Still, the state’s teachers union is encouraging school leaders to review their policies.

In a statement, Education Minnesota President Monica Byron said superintendents and school boards should “prepare educators for how to respond to a potential uptick in parental content review and opt-out requests.”

St. Louis Park Public Schools was caught in the push-pull of balancing inclusion efforts and religious freedom in recent years when Muslim parents balked at the teaching of books with LGBTQ characters. Similar issues also flared in Ham Lake and Burnsville.

The St. Louis Park schools’ website encourages parents to have conversations with their student’s teacher and principal “if you come across any classroom materials that you have questions about.”

The district’s alternative curriculum request form asks parents if they have “viewed, read, or listened to this material in its entirety.” It also prompts parents to detail what they object to, what they believe the theme of the content is and what they think the negative result would be if their child accessed the course material. School principals are expected to respond to the opt-out requests within 10 days.

The website also lists relevant district policies, including one about teaching controversial issues.

All sides of such an issue “are to be clearly and fairly presented,” the policy reads, and staff members “shall guard against advocating partisan causes, sectarian religious doctrines, or advancing prejudiced or self-held viewpoints.” With parental request, students can be excused from lessons on controversial issues, the policy states.

Patrick Duffy, director of teaching, learning and leadership at St. Louis Park Schools, said the district has always been open to families opting out of lessons, particularly in K-8 classes where curriculum isn’t tied to a graduation requirement.

A “reasonable alternative” should be reasonable for both the district and the family and help a child meet academic standards, he said.

“This is not something new,” he said. “This has been policy for us for decades.”

What may be new, however, is the number of requests the district receives.

Duffy said those seem to come in clusters. In his seven years in the district, he said he’s seen a “flurry of gender-identity related challenges” to curriculum over a period of a couple of months and a few culture or identity-related opt-out requests in the 2022-2023 school year in the wake of the Derek Chauvin trial for the murder of George Floyd.

“Other than that, I have seen very few challenges to our curriculum in this community,” he said. “We want to have a process to engage families in a dialogue about why we chose curriculum that matches our district values and how we can also honor the values of the families we serve.”