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The California State Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo by Rafał Konieczny/CC BY-SA)
Jan. 13, 2020
Nicholas Wolfram Smith
The California Catholic Conference is pushing for the passage of legislation that would give parents more control over the sexual health education of their children in public elementary schools.
If passed, Senate Bill 673 would “increase parental oversight of sexual education of public school children in all grades and ensure age appropriate instruction below grade seven,” Raymond Burnell said.
Burnell, director of education and environmental stewardship for the California Catholic Conference, said public school parents have three rights under the state’s sexual health education law.
“Parents have the right to be notified, they are able to review the materials in advance of that instruction, and they are allowed to excuse their child from participating in all or any part of sexual health education,” he said.
The proposed legislation would help parents review sexual health education materials by mandating that they must be accessible online. While some school districts, like San Francisco’s, already do so, many districts require parents to travel to the school to review materials, which Burnell called “an exceptional burden” on single parent and low income households.
“Getting this posted online would be a huge success because it would allow parents to really see everything for themselves,” he said. “The more they are informed and aware and can see it with easy access, the better.”
Burnell said SB 673 would also require parents to opt into sexual education for their elementary aged children, rather than having the district enroll them by default. California law requires school districts to offer sexual education once in middle school and once in high school, but leaves sexual education for students below seventh grade to the discretion of the school district.
Having parents actively choose to enroll their child in sexual education “really strengthens parental rights to supervise instruction,” Burnell said.
The state senate education committee will hold a hearing on the legislation on January 15. Burnell acknowledged that passing SB 673 will be difficult. “We are going against the wind on this one,” he said. Much of the concern stems from changing elementary sexual education to an active opt-in system, he said.
Burnell encouraged Catholics to contact state senators on the education committee to express their support for the legislation. “The more you flood the offices of these seven senators and let them know there’s support for the bill, the better,” he said.
The legislation was introduced in February 2019 by Sen. Mike Morrell of Covina and co-authored by six other Republican state senators.
In an April 2019 press release introducing the measure, Senator Morrell said “Parents have the right to know what lessons are being covered in the classroom. We want them to be engaged and involved in the education of their children. This sensitive material needs to be transparent.”