BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 329 (Weber) - Pupil instruction: sexual health education.
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|Version: April 13, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 5 - 2 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: July 13, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill: (1) requires all students to receive
comprehensive sexual health education twice between grades 7
through 12; and (2) modifies and expands the existing HIV
prevention instruction mandate.
Fiscal
Impact: Unknown, but costs likely at least in the low millions
(Proposition 98) to expand the existing mandate. Costs are
minor and absorbable to the California Department of Education.
This bill would expand what school districts are able to claim
as a reimbursable state mandate under the existing mandate,
regardless of whether this instruction is already being
provided. It also requires school districts to incorporate
new components in their comprehensive sexual health and HIV
prevention education programs, or create a comprehensive
sexual health program if they do not offer one already. Costs
would vary by school district. See staff comments.
AB 329 (Weber) Page 1 of
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Background:1) Current 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. School districts that elect
to offer comprehensive sexual health education must meet all of
the specified criteria. (Education Code § 51933)
Current 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 junior high or middle school and at least once in high
school. (EC § 51934)
Current law also provides that parents have the right to excuse
their child from all or part of comprehensive sexual health
education, HIV/AIDS prevention education, and assessment related
to that education. Current law requires school districts to
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 year. (EC § 51938)
Proposed Law:
This bill establishes the California Healthy Youth Act which:
(1) requires all students to receive comprehensive sexual health
education at least twice between grades 7 through 12; and (2)
modifies and expands the existing HIV/AIDS prevention
instruction mandate. Specifically this bill:
1. Expands the existing HIV/AIDS prevention instruction
mandate by:
a. Merging existing permissive comprehensive
sexual health education requirements into new
mandatory requirements for both comprehensive sexual
health education and HIV prevention education.
b. Applying existing mandated HIV prevention
education requirements to comprehensive sexual health
education.
AB 329 (Weber) Page 2 of
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Additionally, this bill:
2. Expands an existing requirement that periodic in-service
training be planned and conducted for school personnel who
provide instruction in HIV prevention to include training
on comprehensive sexual health education.
3. Requires all outside consultants and guest speakers have
expertise in comprehensive sexual health education, in
addition to HIV prevention education, and knowledge of the
most recent medically accurate research on relevant topics
in the instruction.
4. Clarifies the existing parental opt-out, and
specifically prohibits school districts from requiring
active parental consent.
5. Sets forth additional criteria which comprehensive
sexual health education and HIV prevention education must
satisfy, including but not limited to: instructional
materials must align to specified purposes for this
instruction, be inclusive of same-sex relationships, teach
students about gender expression and identity, and provide
students with knowledge and skills they need to form
healthy relationships that are free from violence,
coercion, and intimidation.
6. Sets forth additional requirements for what
comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention
education must include, such as: information about
decreasing needle use and sharing to reduce HIV
transmission, treatment of sexually transmitted infections
and HIV, including antiretroviral therapy, information on
all legally available pregnancy outcomes, and sex
trafficking.
Related
Legislation: AB 517 (Gallagher, 2015) requires school districts
to provide time for parents to inspect educational materials
used in sexual health education and HIV/AIDS prevention
education, authorizes parents to make copies at the school of
written materials, and requires existing parental notification
to include information about the expertise of any guest speaker
AB 329 (Weber) Page 3 of
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providing this education. AB 517 is pending in this committee.
Staff
Comments: This bill expands the existing HIV prevention
education mandate (known as AIDS Instruction and AIDS Prevention
Instruction) by including comprehensive sexual health education
in its provisions; requiring existing permissive requirements
for comprehensive sexual health education to become mandatory
and to also apply to HIV prevention; and adding more content
that must be included in this instruction. These additional
requirements generally include having instruction satisfy
certain criteria, include specified components, requiring
outside speakers to have certain expertise, and clarifying the
parental opt-out process which could lead to updating annual
notices.
Consistent with the previous determinations by the Commission on
State Mandates (Commission) regarding the AIDS instruction
mandate, the Commission is likely to also determine the
requirements in this bill to be a higher level of service and
therefore a reimbursable state mandate. School districts will
likely claim additional staff costs in the following areas,
based on the existing mandate:
In-service training for school district employees
assigned the responsibility for HIV prevention and
comprehensive sexual health instruction in grades 7-12.
The salaries and benefits of non-classroom district
employees and the reasonable costs of consultants who
provide expanded instruction on HIV prevention and
comprehensive sexual health education.
The costs of planning for the expanded instruction on
HIV prevention and comprehensive sexual health education
and in-service training.
The costs incurred to select and pay for instructional
materials that align to the provisions of this bill, both
one-time and ongoing.
Providing notification to parents or guardians each time
a guest speaker or assembly on HIV prevention and
AB 329 (Weber) Page 4 of
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comprehensive sexual health instruction is scheduled.
One-time cost of revising the annual parent notification
regarding instruction on topics included in this bill and
clarification to the parental opt-out process.
According to data from the State Controller's Office, program
costs attributed to this mandate have been around $1.5 million.
Because this bill significantly expands the existing mandate,
costs would likely increase.
In 2002, the Commission found that Chapter 403, Statutes of 1998
imposes new activities on school districts by adding
instructional content to the AIDS prevention instruction and
altering the parent/guardian notification requirements. This
created the second AIDS mandate. Similarly, this bill increases
and alters the content of the HIV prevention instruction by
introducing new required topics into the curriculum, the largest
being comprehensive sexual health education.
According to the California Department of Education, many school
districts already incorporate comprehensive sexual health
education with the required HIV prevention instruction. If
deemed a mandate, this bill would allow even those school
districts currently in compliance with the proposed law to claim
reimbursement from the state. To the extent school districts
are not already in compliance, they would have to update their
programs.
Assuming about one quarter of schools would need to purchase new
instructional materials to align to the requirements of this
bill, costs in the initial year would be about $800,000, and
$500,000 per year for subsequent years. To the extent school
districts are not already being reimbursed for integrated
comprehensive sexual health education and HIV education
instructional materials under the existing mandate, costs could
significantly increase. Assuming one teacher per school with
grades 7 through 12 receive professional development in the
additional required instruction, costs would be about $2.4
million. Finally, if these same teachers spent just ten hours
AB 329 (Weber) Page 5 of
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per year planning for the expanded instruction, costs would be
about $3 million. This does not include expenses for
non-classroom district employees and costs of outside
consultants providing this education or additional expenses
related to parent notifications.
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