Requires comprehensive sexuality instruction for students in grades K-12 which includes a model curricula for comprehensive sexuality education and at a minimum conforms to the content and scope of national sexuality education standards.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4604
SPONSOR: Gonzalez-Rojas TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to comprehensive sexuali-
ty education in schools
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this legislation is to provide students with a comprehen-
sive sexuality education that is age appropriate, medically accurate,
and inclusive of all students.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1- Amends the education law by adding a new section 804-e.
Paragraph one requires each public and charter school to provide
students in grades kindergarten through twelve with comprehensive sexu-
ality education. Paragraph two requires the commissioner in consultation
with the commissioner of health to develop a sexuality education
program. Paragraph three directs the commissioner to consult a broad
range of experts in the development of the program. Paragraph four
directs the commissioner to prescribe in regulations the contents and
topics to be included in sexuality education. Paragraph five requires
the commissioner to issue guidance to school districts and publish model
curricula on the State Education Department website. Instruction shall
occur no later than the school year following the effective date. Para-
graph six instructs boards of education that elect not to adopt the
model curricula to establish diverse advisory groups to make recommenda-
tions regarding the curriculum, content, of sexuality education for the
school district that conforms in content and scope to the comprehensive
sexuality education program established by the commissioner. Paragraph
seven requires school districts to establish a process for parents to
opt their child out of select lessons regarding HIV/AIDS preven tion, in
accordance with current regulations. Paragraph eight defines the term
"comprehensive sexuality education".
Section 2 - Effective Date
EXISTING LAW:
This is a new section of law.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York does not currently require sex education to be taught in
schools beyond certain requirements related to HIV/AIDS. Of the public
schools that do provide sex education, the curriculum is often inaccu-
rate, incomplete, or biased. It often fails to prepare students to make
healthy, informed, and consensual decisions about relationships. LGBTQ
relationships are often stigmatized or ignored entirely. Even basic
information about anatomy is inaccurate, and materials often reinforce
negative gender stereotypes.
Comprehensive sexuality education covers issues like healthy relation-
ships, body image, and self-esteem. In kindergarten, that looks like
basic lessons about friendship and communication, providing students
with the building blocks they need to tackle issues like consent and
sexual health years later in middle and high school. At older ages those
lessons include health matters like preventing unintended pregnancy and
sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Comprehensive sexuality education results in improved educational
outcomes for students. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
analysis of social-emotional skills program led to significant
reductions in dropout rates. Studies have also found that students who
receive comprehensive sexuality education delay the initiation and
reduce the frequency of sexual intercourse, have fewer sexual partners,
and practice safe sex. Currently 3 in 10 women in New York become preg-
nant at least once before their 20th birthdays, and teenagers represent
about 50% of the new STI cases in New York.
Comprehensive sexuality education is about more than reducing the rates
of STIs and unintended pregnancy. Educating students about dating
violence prevention, consent, and healthy relationships will reduce
interpersonal violence, sexual harassment, and toxic relationships. The
MeToo movement is part of a reckoning about the pervasiveness of sexual
harassment and violence in our culture. Young people are, unfortunately,
not immune. Nationally, more than two thirds of teenagers who are or
have been in a relationship report experiencing some form of sexual,
physical, or emotional abuse. In New York City, about 12 percent of
teenagers reported experiencing physical dating violence. Without
comprehensive sexuality education, sexual harassment and toxic relation-
ships will continue to spread.
Comprehensive sexuality education will also make schools safer places
for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth.
Gay, lesbian, and bisexual students are almost twice as likely as heter-
osexual students to report not going to school because they felt unsafe
at, or on their way to or from, school. For transgender and gender non-
confirming youth, school can be even more difficult: in New York, 74%
of transgender students (or those perceived as transgender) experience
some form of mistreatment: 50% were verbally harassed, 23% report being
physically assaulted, and 12% experienced sexual violence between
kindergarten and 12th grade. School victimization has been linked with
decreased academic achievement, increased suicide ideation, increased
rates of absenteeism, and negative impacts on their emotional health.
Comprehensive sexuality education that dispels stigma around sexuality
and gender combats discrimination, bullying, and harassment and promotes
respect for all youth.
Across party lines, parents overwhelmingly support comprehensive sexual-
ity education in schools. According to a national poll of parents, 93.5%
feel it is important that sex education is taught in middle school, and
96% feel it is important that sex education is taught in high school.
All young people deserve the knowledge, skills, and resources to make
healthy and informed decisions about their bodies and relationships.
Comprehensive sexuality education will empower and educate students to
protect their health and build their futures - without shame or judg-
ment. It is critical that New York students receive this education.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.6616 - 2021/2022
A.6512- 2019/2020
A.10517- 2018
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
July 1, 2024
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4604
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 17, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GONZALEZ-ROJAS, PAULIN, LUNSFORD, EPSTEIN,
STIRPE, CRUZ, JEAN-PIERRE, COOK, SIMON, GLICK, HYNDMAN, REYES, BRON-
SON, ROZIC, LAVINE, RAMOS, L. ROSENTHAL, FAHY, DARLING, WALLACE,
SEAWRIGHT, LUPARDO, HEVESI, HUNTER, MAGNARELLI, BURKE, THIELE, OTIS,
WALKER, CARROLL, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, BURDICK, CLARK, DICKENS, JACOBSON,
KELLES, MEEKS, FORREST, McMAHON, RAJKUMAR, PRETLOW, DINOWITZ, BARRETT,
MAMDANI, DE LOS SANTOS, STECK, ANDERSON, GALLAGHER, RAGA, SHIMSKY,
ARDILA, SIMONE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to comprehensive sexuali-
ty education in schools
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 804-e
2 to read as follows:
3 § 804-e. Comprehensive sexuality education. 1. Each public and charter
4 school shall ensure all pupils receive, as an integral part of education
5 in grades kindergarten through twelve, comprehensive sexuality educa-
6 tion.
7 2. The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of health,
8 shall develop and establish a comprehensive sexuality education program.
9 Such program of instruction shall include: (i) model curricula for
10 comprehensive sexuality education in grades kindergarten through twelve
11 including exemplar lesson plans, instructional tools and materials, and
12 best practice instructional resources that are suitable to student age,
13 based on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity and at a minimum
14 conforms to the content and scope of national sexuality education stand-
15 ards; (ii) resources to support implementation of the instruction in the
16 schools; and (iii) public availability of all program materials related
17 to comprehensive sexuality education on the department's website.
18 3. In the development of such program, the commissioners shall seek
19 the recommendations of a broad range of experts such as teachers certi-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08864-01-3
A. 4604 2
1 fied in health, biology, family and consumer science, early childhood
2 education, and childhood education, certified and licensed social work-
3 ers, school nurses, school administrators, school board members, parent
4 teacher association members, others with educational expertise in inti-
5 mate partner violence, sexual assault, reproductive and sexual health
6 care, and serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning
7 youth. Such program of comprehensive sexuality instruction shall be
8 reviewed periodically by the commissioner in consultation with the
9 commissioner of health, at intervals specified by the commissioner, and
10 updated as necessary.
11 4. The commissioner shall prescribe in regulations such contents and
12 topics to be included in a curriculum of comprehensive sexuality
13 instruction; provided, however, that the curricula need not be uniform
14 throughout the state; and provided further, however, that school
15 districts shall utilize either a curriculum for comprehensive sexuality
16 education instruction prescribed by the commissioner or a curriculum in
17 accordance with the criteria established by the commissioner.
18 5. Upon approval and adoption by the board of regents, the department
19 shall issue guidance to the school districts about the program on
20 comprehensive sexuality instruction and publish on its website model
21 curricula and instructional resources required by this section. School
22 districts shall provide comprehensive sexuality education instruction no
23 later than the school year following the effective date of this section.
24 No later than the second year after the effective date of this section
25 and as necessary thereafter, the commissioner shall conduct a review of
26 district implementation to monitor compliance.
27 6. The boards of education or trustees of the cities and school
28 districts of the state that choose not to adopt the model curriculum
29 approved by the board of regents shall each establish an advisory coun-
30 cil which shall make recommendations to the board of education or trus-
31 tees concerning the curriculum, content, and evaluation of the compre-
32 hensive sexuality education required pursuant to this section. The
33 advisory council shall include, but need not be limited to, members of
34 the school board or trustees, school authorities, a teacher designated
35 by a teacher's collective bargaining organization, other staff, parents,
36 students, and other representatives of the community. The board of
37 education or trustees of a school district shall determine the curric-
38 ulum and content of the program within the school district and shall be
39 responsible for the evaluation of the program within the district and
40 ensuring the program conforms in content and scope to the comprehensive
41 sexuality education program established by the commissioner.
42 7. The board of education and trustees of the cities and school
43 districts of the state shall establish a process by which a parent or
44 guardian of a student may elect for the student not to participate in
45 select lessons regarding HIV/AIDS prevention; provided, however, that
46 such process shall require written notice signed by the student's parent
47 or guardian for each school year.
48 8. As used in this article, "comprehensive sexuality education" means
49 a medically accurate, age-appropriate sequential learning program which
50 addresses physical, mental, emotional and social dimensions of human
51 sexuality, is trauma-responsive and culturally appropriate, incorporates
52 skills-based instruction; provides students with knowledge and skills
53 they need to form relationships that are based on mutual respect and
54 affection and that are free from violence, coercion, and intimidation;
55 and are respectful and inclusive of all students regardless of actual or
56 perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion,
A. 4604 3
1 religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, or gender as defined
2 in section eleven of this chapter. Comprehensive sexuality education
3 shall include, but is not limited to, age-appropriate instruction on:
4 (i) human anatomy, reproduction, and sexual development; (ii) consent,
5 bodily autonomy, boundary-setting, bullying, and peer pressure; (iii)
6 healthy relationships, including relationships involving diverse sexual
7 orientations and gender identities and prevention of intimate partner
8 violence, sexual violence and sexual harassment; (iv) methods for
9 preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; (v) gender,
10 gender expression, gender identity, diversity of sex characteristics,
11 and the harms of gender stereotypes; (vi) the relationship between
12 substance use and sexual behavior and health; and (vii) the use of tech-
13 nology and social media in interpersonal relationships.
14 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
15 the date on which it shall have become a law.
