Madison County Regional Superintendent of Schools Robert Werden said the Illinois State Board of Education is still working through details of the controversial sexual education bill, but parents are expected to be able to opt out.
“We’re really waiting on standards and guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education on implementation for the bill,” Werden said. “That’s where the rubber meets the road.”
He said that the State Board of Education plans to work with parents, stakeholders and experts on developing the standards.
“I can say that I am happy with the fact that parents can opt out of it if they so choose,” Werden added.
Section 27-9.1d of the bill states, “No student shall be required to take or participate in any class or course in comprehensive personal health and safety and comprehensive sexual health education. A student’s parent or guardian may opt the student out of comprehensive personal health and safety and comprehensive sexual health education by submitting the request in writing.”
“Refusal to take or participate in such a course or program may not be a reason for disciplinary action, academic penalty, suspension, or expulsion or any other sanction of a student. A school district may not require active parental consent for comprehensive personal health and safety and comprehensive sexual health education,” it continues.
The bill also states that parents or guardians must be given the opportunity to review the instructional materials to be used in the sex education course.
“A school district shall annually post, on its Internet website if one exists, which curriculum is used to provide comprehensive personal health and safety and comprehensive sexual health education and the name and contact information, including an email address, of school personnel who can respond to inquiries about instruction and materials,” the bill states.
The controversial Senate Bill 818, or the Keeping Youth Safe and Happy Act, was signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Aug. 19 and requires Illinois schools that teach sexual education to begin in kindergarten.
This is how area lawmakers voted:
Yes votes: Sen. Christopher Belt (D-East St. Louis) and Reps. Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville), Jay Hoffman (D-Belleville), LaToya Greenwood (D-East St. Louis).
Sen. Rachelle Crowe (D-Maryville) did not vote.
No votes: Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) and Reps. Amy Elik (R-Alton), David Friess (R-Red Bud), Charlie Meier (R-Highland), Chris Miller (R-Oakland).
Before the bill went to Pritzker's desk, Plummer said the extreme bill outsourced the required sex education curriculum "to unaccountable and largely unknown outside groups. Nobody knows who runs, controls, or finances these groups that are now going to be designing the curriculum that our schools and teachers must use. They are not allowed to teach outside this extreme curriculum," he wrote on a May Facebook post.
The bill mandates that sex education must align with the National Sex Education Standards, by utilizing a curriculum that is “age and developmentally appropriate, medically accurate, complete, culturally appropriate, inclusive, and trauma informed.”
The State Board of Education has until Aug. 1, 2022 to develop specific learning standards “in the area of comprehensive personal health and safety education for pupils in kindergarten through the 5th grade and comprehensive sexual education for pupils in the 6th through 12th grades.”
Once developed, the bill states that schools “may choose and adapt” the curriculum to meet the needs of the community.
Plummer also previously said the curriculum material is "highly inappropriate" and will be considered "highly offensive and objectionable" to the "vast, vast majority of parents."
The National Sex Education Standards provides Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, suggesting children ages five through eight years old to learn about topics including, but not limited to:
- Medical terminology for body parts and their functions
- Differences between male and female
- “Both boys and girls have body parts that feel good when touched.”
- “Touching and rubbing one’s own genitals to feel good is called masturbation.”
- “People often kiss, hug, touch and engage in other sexual behaviors with one another to show caring and to feel good.”
- Puberty and body changes
- Reproduction
- “Vaginal intercourse - when a penis is placed inside a vagina - is the common way for a sperm and egg to join.”
- Pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding
- Body differences, such as size, shapes and colors
- Heterosexual and homosexual
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Puberty and maturing sexual organs
- Ability to reproduce
- Conception and contraception
- Body image
- Sexual orientation
- “Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female, or a combination of these.”
- Children are not ready for sexual intercourse and other sexual behaviors
- Pregnancy
- Abortion
- “Sexual response system differs from the reproductive system.”
- “Some sexual and reproductive organs provide pleasure.”
- Ovulation and contraception
- Sexual intercourse during pregnancy
- The size and shape of sexual organs vary and the resulting body image
- Sexual orientation
- “Gender identity is different from sexual orientation.”
- Abstinence
- Sexual fantasies
- Sexual dysfunction
- Prenatal care
- Abortion laws
- Orgasms
- Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Prenatal development
- Hormones
- Menopause
- Infertility and available resources
- Body image
- Discrimination
- “Some sexual fantasies involve mysterious or forbidden things.”
- Causes of sexual dysfunction and management
- Types of abortion