State Education Integration Task Force Recommendations

This HIA looked at the impact of the Minnesota legislature’s decisions regarding the adoption of recommendations from a state education task force on addressing school integration and improving education outcomes for students of color. The purpose of the recommendations is to close the achievement gap among students, which means improving educational outcomes such as graduation rates of students of color. School integration and equity in education generally influence health in a number of ways. Health outcomes associated with education include mortality rate, longevity, health behaviors (such as exercising, smoking, maintaining healthy weight, obtaining timely check-ups and screenings), birth outcomes, and mental and overall health.

The Chairman of the Educational Policy Committee wrote a letter saying, “Creating a holistic public policy framework calls for legislators to draw on different policy subject areas with the goal of producing an overall healthier and stronger society. In that spirit, I enthusiastically embrace the approach offered by ISAIAH’s health impact assessment because it ties together policy objectives and knowledge from different areas of public life.”