I don't want my child to talk about sex!
This comes from the files of "I didn't realize California's public school
weren't mandated to have sex education." But last week, Governor Jerry Brown signed
Assembly Bill 329:
(1) Existing law, the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act, authorizes school districts to provide comprehensive sexual health education, consisting of age-appropriate instruction, in any of kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and requires school districts to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive HIV/AIDS prevention education, as specified.
This bill would revise and recast these provisions to, among other things, integrate the instruction of comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education. The bill would rename the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act the California Healthy Youth Act. The bill would specify additional purposes of the act. The bill would instead require school districts to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education, as specified. By imposing additional requirements on school districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
[My emphasis]
The bill changes the discretion of whether or not a student receives sexual education classes from the school to parents.
(a) A parent or guardian of a pupil has the right to excuse their child from all or part of comprehensive sexual health education, HIV prevention education, and assessments related to that education through a passive consent (“opt-out”) process. A school district shall not require active parental consent (“opt-in”) for comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education.
The bill will go into effect on January 1, 2016, for California students in grades 7 through 12. Part of the bill's importance is that it gives more comprehensible guidelines for schools. LGBT concerns are acknowledged.
Some other changes:
Among the new areas required, the curriculum will include information about “sexual harassment, sexual assault, adolescent relationship abuse, intimate partner violence, and sex trafficking.” Schools must provide “comprehensive, accurate and unbiased” information on sexual health and HIV prevention and provide students with “the knowledge and skills they need to develop healthy attitudes concerning adolescent growth and development, body image, gender, sexual orientation, relationships, marriage, and family,” according to the text of the law.
This also comes on the heels of the
California superior court ruling that abstinence does not qualify as sexual education.