Illinois House vote updates state's sex education curriculum

The Illinois House passed legislation on Friday updating the state's sex education curriculum in a partisan split.

The bill, which creates a new "personal health and safety" curriculum for grades K-5 and a "sexual health education" for grades 6-12, received resistance from Republican lawmakers and religious groups for its "culturally appropriate" guidelines, including education on gender identities, different types of families, sexual orientation, consent and a woman's options during pregnancy.

The legislation, an amendment to Senate Bill 818, passed the Senate last week on a 37-18 vote along partisan lines. Floor debate was punctuated with contentious speeches, with Xenia Republican Sen. Darren Bailey referring to the bill as "perversion" multiple times while urging a "no" vote.

Under current law, parents and guardians may opt their student out of sex education classes with no penalty. That provision would remain in the new legislation.

While a previous version of the legislation set a mandatory deadline by which all schools would be required to teach sex ed, the most recent amendment allows each school district to determine whether it will teach the subject.

However, if a district decides to offer sexual health education, the curriculum must use all or part of the curriculum established by the bill.

The actual statewide curriculum based on the guidelines for sexual health education and personal health and safety would be developed by the Illinois State Board of Education by Aug. 1, 2022.

But many of the guidelines contained in the statute require that sex ed curricula be aligned with National Sex Education Standards, an initiative by nongovernment organizations to provide "guidance on essential minimum core content and skills needed for sex education that is age-appropriate."

Republicans balked at aligning state education standards to out-of-state guidelines designed by individuals unaffiliated with government entities, some of whom are listed in the standards as representing Planned Parenthood.

The National Sex Education Standards are in their second edition, and ISBE would adjust the state's curriculum under the law to be in alignment with new editions as they are released.