Text of MA H 1063 (2012)

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 01822 FILED ON: 01/20/2011 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 01063 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts _______________ PRESENTED BY: James J. O'Day _______________ To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled: The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the passage of the accompanying bill: An Act relative to healthy youth. _______________ PETITION OF: NAME: DISTRICT/ADDRESS: James J. O'Day 14th Worcester Katherine M. Clark Middlesex and Essex Alice K. Wolf 25th Middlesex Jason M. Lewis 31st Middlesex Kay Khan 11th Middlesex Frank I. Smizik 15th Norfolk David Paul Linsky 5th Middlesex William N. Brownsberger 24th Middlesex Linda Dorcena Forry 12th Suffolk Tom Sannicandro 7th Middlesex Jennifer E. Benson 37th Middlesex Thomas P. Conroy 13th Middlesex Cory Atkins 14th Middlesex Ruth B. Balser 12th Middlesex John W. Scibak 2nd Hampshire Martha M. Walz 8th Suffolk Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. 26th Middlesex Paul Brodeur 32nd Middlesex Alice Hanlon Peisch 14th Norfolk Peter V. Kocot 1st Hampshire Stephen Kulik 1st Franklin George Ross 2nd Bristol Carl M. Sciortino, Jr. 34th Middlesex Carlos Henriquez 5th Suffolk Harriette L. Chandler First Worcester Elizabeth A. Malia 11th Suffolk Christine E. Canavan 10th Plymouth Byron Rushing 9th Suffolk Jonathan Hecht 29th Middlesex James B. Eldridge Middlesex and Worcester Sean Garballey 23rd Middlesex Kevin G. Honan 17th Suffolk Cleon H. Turner 1st Barnstable Sheila Harrington 1st Middlesex Gailanne Cariddi 1st Berkshire Denise Andrews 2nd Franklin Aaron Michlewitz 3rd Suffolk Denise Provost 27th Middlesex Kathi-Anne Reinstein 16th Suffolk Sarah K. Peake 4th Barnstable Michael O. Moore Second Worcester HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 01063 By Mr. James J. O'Day of West Boylston, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 01063) of Michael Moore and others relative to age appropriate sexual health education. Joint Committee on Education. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts _______________ In the Year Two Thousand Eleven _______________ An Act relative to healthy youth. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is 2 hereby amended by inserting after Section 32A the following:— 3 Section 32B. (1) For the purposes of this Act, the following terms shall have the following 4 meanings: 5 “Age-appropriate” means topics, messages, and teaching methods suitable to particular ages or 6 age groups of children and adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and 7 behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group. 8 9 “Department” means the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. 10 “Medically accurate” means supported by peer-reviewed research conducted in compliance with 11 accepted scientific methods, and recognized as accurate and objective by leading medical, 12 psychological, psychiatric, and public health organizations and agencies, and, where relevant, 13 published in peer-reviewed journals. 14 (2) Each school district or public school that offers sexual health education shall provide 15 medically accurate, age-appropriate education. 16 Sexual health education under this section shall: teach the benefits of abstinence and delaying 17 sexual activity; stress the importance of effectively using contraceptives and barrier methods to 18 prevent unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; teach 19 students the skills to effectively negotiate and implement safer sexual activity; help students 20 develop the relationship and communication skills to form healthy, respectful relationships free 21 of violence, coercion, and intimidation and make healthy decisions about relationships and 22 sexuality; and be appropriate for students regardless of gender, race, disability status, or sexual 23 orientation. 24 No speaker, program, curriculum, or materials used by a public school to provide instruction 25 regarding sexual health shall conflict with the standards set out in this section, and information 26 about abstinence may not be provided separate from information on contraceptives and disease 27 prevention. 28 (3) Sexual health education must be consistent with the Massachusetts comprehensive health 29 curriculum framework developed by the department. 30 The commissioner of education shall develop a list of sexual health education curricula that are 31 consistent with this section and the comprehensive health curriculum framework. This list shall 32 be intended to serve as a resource for schools, teachers, or any other organization or community 33 group, and shall be updated annually and made available on the department web site. Any school 34 district or public school that utilizes these curricula in a manner consistent with section 32B(2) 35 shall be presumed to be in compliance with this section. 36 (4) The department shall establish a procedure, to be described on its website, to enable any 37 parent or guardian with a child enrolled in a school district, or any student enrolled in a school 38 district, to bring to the attention of the department any sexual health curriculum or program 39 which the individual believes is inconsistent with the requirements of this act. The 40 commissioner shall assess any such curriculum or program and provide guidance and training to 41 the school district to address identified inconsistencies and report back to the complaining 42 individual within 60 days. 43 (5) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the ability of parents to exempt their 44 children from instruction which primarily involves human sexual education or human sexuality 45 issues under the provisions of section 32A of this chapter. 46 SECTION 2. Section 1I of Chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official 47 Edition, is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following:— 48 Each school district and Commonwealth charter school shall file a report regarding sexual health 49 education in the district with the department every year by a date and in a format determined by 50 the board. Said report shall include, but not be limited to, the following data for each public 51 school and Commonwealth charter school, by grade level: 52 (a) a description of any sexual health education curricula or programs offered; 53 (b) the approximate number of hours spent on sexual health education; 54 (c) the number of students receiving sexual health education; and 55 (d) the number of students who opt-out of sexual health education under the provisions of 56 section 32A of chapter 71.