The Minnesota House passed Senate File 1740, an omnibus education policy bill, after floor members adopted amendments including a temporary start-date flexibility for K–12 calendars and several technical and programmatic provisions. The bill passed on third reading by a 131–3 vote.

The most consequential amendment adopted on the floor, labeled the A1 amendment, allows school districts temporary flexibility to set start dates before Labor Day for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 school years but prohibits calendars that begin earlier than Sept. 1 in those two years. Representative Joachim, who explained the amendment on the floor, said the change preserves existing exceptions — for example, for districts with construction projects over $400,000 or cross-border calendar agreements — and is meant as a time-limited accommodation to avoid cutting instructional days when Labor Day falls very late.

Supporters framed A1 as a local-control, student-centered fix. Representative Jordan, the bill sponsor, said the amendment substitutes House language into the Senate file and urged support. Representative Curran argued the amendment “gives more control to localities to really hone in on what works for communities.” Opponents, including Representative Bliss and Representative Heintzeman, said the change would harm Greater Minnesota resort economies and family traditions tied to the Labor Day weekend. The A1 amendment passed on a roll call, 84 ayes to 46 nays.

Debate on discipline produced two high-profile floor fights that failed to change current law. Representative Baekeberg introduced an amendment (A3) that would have allowed suspensions for K–3 students (rolling back the current ban on exclusionary discipline at those grades) and repealed the statutory ban on recess detention. Representative Frazier urged colleagues to maintain the existing nonexclusionary discipline approach, citing data on disproportionate suspensions of students of color and students with disabilities. Representative Knudson and other members described incidents in classrooms and urged tools to protect safety and learning. The A3 amendment failed on a 67–67 tie.

A subsequent compromise amendment (A4), advanced by the same sponsors, attempted to add superintendent review and other procedural checks while restoring some authority for exclusionary discipline in serious or safety-related cases and to give schools time to plan and put supports in place. That compromise also failed on a 67–67 tie.

Floor debate also addressed and removed, at the request of the author, a standing provision related to hours of instruction that had an unexpected fiscal note (the A2 amendment removed an item authored by Representative Clardy). Members on both sides criticized last-minute fiscal notes and said they would continue work next session.

Other provisions in the enacted package include technical updates related to PSEO and adult basic education; charter school statutory revisions; innovation and local-control items (including P-TECH and other experimental learning authorities); special education dispute-process codification; health and safety measures such as authorization for stock epinephrine and new inhalable epinephrine language; and changes to substitute-teacher rules to expand short-call emergency substitute options while setting parameters for length of service. Representative Mueller and others described the substitute-teacher language as intended to expand the local pool of available adults for short-term coverage while retaining limits on consecutive days.

The bill’s proponents described the final package as largely technical with targeted policy changes and as returning some authorities to local districts. Opponents and some members signaled continuing concern about school safety and discipline policies and said they plan to press the department and the conference process to refine implementation.

There being 131 yeas and 3 nays, the bill passed as amended on third reading and its title was agreed to.