New sexual health education law now in place
Published: March 9, 2016
Effective Jan. 1, 2016, a new law, Assembly Bill 329 (Weber, D-San Diego), requires districts to provide an integrated course of comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education to students in grades 7-12, including at least once in junior high or middle school and at least once in high school. Under the renamed California Healthy Youth Act, sexual health education is no longer an optional course offering in California, and the required program components have been substantially revised. Changes include, but are not limited to, an added requirement to provide information about sexual harassment, sexual assault, gender identity, adolescent relationship abuse, intimate partner violence and sex trafficking.
“This law has kind of caught up with the times that we live in,” said CSBA General Counsel and Director of the Education Legal Alliance Keith Bray in a March 2 California Health Line news article. “It’s 2016. The law reflects some awareness as to lifestyles and additional tolerance where it’s needed,” he added.
The new law also clarifies that districts must use a "passive consent" or "opt-out" process regarding sexual health and HIV prevention education and any assessments related to that instruction. That is, each student must receive the instruction unless the parent/guardian notifies the district in writing that the student should not receive the instruction.
CSBA's sample policy and administrative regulation BP/AR 6142.1 - Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education were updated in December to reflect the new law. For further information about AB 329 and other new laws that impact district policies, see the December issue of the Policy News.