State Rep. Doug Wozniak (R-Shelby Township) yesterday voted in the House Oversight Committee to authorize Chair Jay DeBoyer to issue a subpoena to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). The subpoena seeks internal communications, meeting minutes, and records of discussions between MDE officials and outside organizations regarding the department’s proposed updates to sex education standards.

Wozniak supported the action as a necessary step to provide lawmakers and the public with a clearer understanding of how the Department of Education developed its proposed sex education standards and which outside organizations may have influenced the process.

“Parents deserve to know what kind of information and outside influence is shaping the lessons being taught to their children,” said Wozniak. “When a state department is rewriting standards that touch on deeply personal and moral issues, there should be no secrecy. Transparency isn’t too much to ask.”

The subpoena gives the Oversight Committee the authority to compel the release of the requested documents from the MDE as part of the Legislature’s ongoing review of the department’s handling of the proposed health and sex education standards.