What may be desirable for certain “life skills” topics like personal finance would be to have required courses, but allow completion of the requirement by exam so that those with that knowledge already need not take the course and would get space for another elective.
This would be analogous to the swimming requirement that my high school had. You either had to pass a swimming test, or you had to take swimming as your PE for half of a semester.
Regarding health and PE, some topics in health (exercise, fitness, nutrition, injury prevention) should be coordinated with PE.
Regarding art and music, agree with others that students should be able to choose between history/theory and practice/performance.