California Sex Education Bill Would Help Schools Design Curricula, ‘Deserves Enactment,’ Editorial Says

A California bill (SB 71) that would "foster a broader, more consistent brand of sex education in California public schools," which the Senate passed on June 4 and the Assembly is about to take up, "deserves enactment," a San Francisco Chronicle editorial says. The measure, introduced by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D), "would replace a patchwork of contradictory and outdated laws with a clearer guide for local school systems," according to the Chronicle. The bill also would continue the state requirement for HIV/AIDS prevention education and defines "age-appropriate" standards for other sexually transmitted disease and teen pregnancy education curricula, the editorial says. Called the "comprehensive sexual health" bill, the measure would also encourage teachers to provide information about contraception and abstinence without bias or religion, and students would be encouraged to discuss sex education issues with their parents, according to the Chronicle. The editorial concludes that by "[t]idying up the maze of conflicting statutes" on sex education, the bill would help the 87% of schools in the state that already provide voluntary sex education (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/25).