BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 1165 (Mitchell) - Sexual Abuse and Sex Trafficking Prevention
Education
Amended: April 3, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 8-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2014 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 1165 authorizes schools to provide sexual abuse
and sex trafficking prevention education, and specifies
requirements for schools that elect to provide it. This bill
requires the next revision of the health framework to include a
distinct category on sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention
education.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 23, 2014):
Health framework: Likely minor costs for the Instructional
Quality Commission (IQC) to develop a distinct category on
sexual abuse and sex trafficking in the state's health
curriculum framework, at its next revision.
Model Curricula and Parent Guide: Significant cost
pressure, likely $40,000 - $90,000, for the CDE to
collaborate with subject matter experts and a writer to
develop specified model curricula and a parent guide.
Background: Existing law requires school districts to ensure
that all students in grades 7-12 receive HIV/AIDS prevention
education, as specified, from instructors trained in the
appropriate courses. Each student must receive this instruction
at least once in middle school and at least once in high school.
(Education Code § 51934)
Existing law authorizes school districts to provide
comprehensive sexual health education, as specified, consisting
of age-appropriate instruction, in any grade, using instructors
trained in the appropriate courses. (EC § 51933)
Parents have the right to excuse their child from all, or part,
of comprehensive sexual health education, HIV/AIDS prevention
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education, and assessment related to that education. School
districts must notify the parent of each student about
instruction in sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention and
research on student health behaviors and risks planned for the
coming school year. (EC § 51938)
The health framework was last adopted in 2003, and was in the
process of being revised when the processes for reviewing
frameworks and adopting instructional materials have been
suspended since July 2009, due to budget constraints. Adoption
of the revised health framework was projected for March 2011.
However, the State Board of Education (SBE) is specifically
prohibited from reviewing frameworks and adopting instructional
materials until the 2015-16 school year, with some specifically
authorized exceptions. (Education Code § 60200.7, § 60200.8, and
§ 60200.9)
The role of the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) is to
recommend curriculum frameworks to the SBE, develop criteria for
evaluating instructional materials, study, evaluate and
recommend to the SBE instructional materials for adoption, and
make recommendations to the SBE regarding the use of frameworks
and model curriculum and alignment with the academic content
standards. (EC § 60204)
Proposed Law: This bill authorizes a school district to provide
sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention education, and
authorizes in-service training to be conducted periodically to
enable school personnel to learn new developments in the
understanding of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. If the
authorized instruction is provided, this bill requires the
school district to ensure that:
1) The education is provided by instructors trained in the
appropriate courses, and each student receives this
instruction at least once in middle school, and at least
once in high school.
2) Sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention education
are added to existing parental opt-out and notification
provisions
3) Instruction and materials include:
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a) Information on different forms of sexual abuse and
assault; discussion of prevention strategies; how to
report sexual abuse or suspected sexual abuse; and local
resources for victims.
b) Discussion of healthy boundaries for relationships;
how to recognize potentially harmful and abusive
relationships; and refusal skills to overcome peer
pressure and to avoid high-risk activities.
c) Information on sex trafficking and risk factors;
recruiting tactics of sex traffickers and peer
recruiters, including recruitment through the Internet;
how to report sex trafficking or suspected trafficking;
and resources for victims.
d) Discussion of legal aspects of sexual abuse and sex
trafficking under state and federal laws.
e) Discussion of how culture and mass media influence
and desensitize our perceptions of sexual abuse and sex
trafficking, including but not limited to stereotypes and
myths about the victims and abusers, victim blaming, and
the role of language. This instruction must emphasize
compassion for people who have suffered from sexual abuse
or sex trafficking, and support positive reentry
experiences for survivors returning to school.
This bill authorizes the CDE to develop model curricula on
sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention education and make
it available to school districts by posting it on the
department's website, as specified. It further requires the IQC,
during the next revision of the health framework, to consider,
develop, and recommend for adoption by the SBE, a distinct
category on sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention
education, as specified.
Staff Comments: LEAs have the authority to provide sexual abuse
and sex trafficking prevention education, but are not required
to do so. Sexual abuse education, often taught by contracted
outside agencies, is common for schools to provide; the extent
to which sex trafficking prevention education is provided in
schools is unclear.
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This bill would require any school district which provides
sexual abuse and/or sex trafficking prevention education to
adhere to numerous requirements (detailed in the "Proposed Law"
section) specified in this bill, which could be costly, or cease
to provide that education. For example, school districts would
have to ensure that pupils receive this instruction at least
once in middle school and once in high school; if a school
district currently provides the education only in high school,
it would be required to either add middle school instruction or
cease instruction altogether. The instruction itself must also
meet new requirements in order to be taught, such as the
requirement to include a "discussion of how culture and mass
media influence and desensitize our perceptions of sexual abuse
and sex trafficking". To the extent that school districts whose
instruction does not currently meet all the requirements wish to
continue to provide sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention
education, they will likely have increased costs to do so
in-house or through a contracted entity.
As part of the section outlining the requirements for sexual
abuse and sex trafficking prevention instruction, this bill
authorizes the CDE to develop model curricula on sexual abuse
and sex trafficking prevention education and make it available
to school districts by posting it on the department's website.
The CDE already has the authority to develop model curricula;
authorizing a specific model curricula related to new content
requirements in statute creates cost pressure for the department
to develop that model curricula. The CDE does not employ subject
matter experts on issues of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,
and the department would have to work extensively with subject
matter (and likely legal) experts to create the curricula and
parent guide content. Coordination and creation of those
materials are likely to cost $40,000 - $90,000 one-time, to
contract with a writer with expertise in sexual abuse and sex
trafficking prevention education to work with CDE staff, and
possibly other departments' staff, to develop model curricula.
The availability of model curricula will, however, likely result
in significant savings to school districts which could access
the curricula instead of contracting with outside agencies to
provide the instruction.
This bill requires the IQC, during its next revision of the
health framework, to consider, develop, and recommend for
adoption by the SBE, a distinct category on sexual abuse and sex
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trafficking prevention education. The CDE has indicated that
most of the content required by this bill is already addressed
in the current health education standards, and there would be
minimal additional costs for including the topics of sexual
abuse and sex trafficking in the next revision of the health
framework.
Committee amendments remove the additional requirements on
schools that elect to provide sexual abuse and sex trafficking
prevention education.