Florida Senate - 2021                              CS for SB 410
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senator Rodriguez
       
       
       
       
       
       591-03565-21                                           2021410c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to reproductive health and disease
    3         education; amending s. 1002.20, F.S.; requiring each
    4         school district to publish specified materials on the
    5         district website to notify parents of their right to
    6         exempt their student from reproductive health and
    7         disease education; amending s. 1003.42, F.S.;
    8         requiring district school boards to annually approve
    9         curriculum relating to reproductive health and disease
   10         education in an open, noticed public meeting;
   11         requiring each school district to publish specified
   12         materials on the district website to notify parents of
   13         their right to exempt their student from reproductive
   14         health and disease education; providing an effective
   15         date.
   16          
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of section
   20  1002.20, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   21         1002.20 K-12 student and parent rights.—Parents of public
   22  school students must receive accurate and timely information
   23  regarding their child’s academic progress and must be informed
   24  of ways they can help their child to succeed in school. K-12
   25  students and their parents are afforded numerous statutory
   26  rights including, but not limited to, the following:
   27         (3) HEALTH ISSUES.—
   28         (d) Reproductive health and disease education.—A public
   29  school student whose parent makes written request to the school
   30  principal shall be exempted from the teaching of reproductive
   31  health or any disease, including HIV/AIDS, in accordance with
   32  the provisions of s. 1003.42(3). Each school district shall
   33  notify parents of this right through publication on the district
   34  website of the curriculum, including the process for a parent to
   35  exercise this right.
   36         Section 2. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 1003.42,
   37  Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   38         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   39         (1)(a) Each district school board shall provide all courses
   40  required for middle grades promotion, high school graduation,
   41  and appropriate instruction designed to ensure that students
   42  meet State Board of Education adopted standards in the following
   43  subject areas: reading and other language arts, mathematics,
   44  science, social studies, foreign languages, health and physical
   45  education, and the arts. The state board must remove a middle
   46  grades course in the Course Code Directory that does not fully
   47  integrate all appropriate curricular content required by s.
   48  1003.41 and may approve a new course only if it meets the
   49  required curricular content.
   50         (b) The curriculum of any teaching of reproductive health
   51  or any disease, including HIV/AIDS, its symptoms, development,
   52  and treatment, as part of the courses required by paragraph (a)
   53  must be annually approved by a district school board in an open,
   54  noticed public meeting.
   55         (3) Any student whose parent makes written request to the
   56  school principal shall be exempted from the teaching of
   57  reproductive health or any disease, including HIV/AIDS, its
   58  symptoms, development, and treatment. A student so exempted may
   59  not be penalized by reason of that exemption. Course
   60  descriptions for comprehensive health education shall not
   61  interfere with the local determination of appropriate curriculum
   62  which reflects local values and concerns. Each school district
   63  shall notify parents of this right through publication on the
   64  district website of the curriculum, including the process for a
   65  parent to exercise this right.
   66         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.