Florida Senate - 2020                                     SB 276
       
       
        
       By Senator Rader
       
       
       
       
       
       29-00175A-20                                           2020276__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to health education; amending s.
    3         1003.42, F.S.; expanding the required instruction in
    4         grades 9 through 12 to include a breast cancer and
    5         prostate cancer awareness component; providing an
    6         effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Paragraph (n) of subsection (2) of section
   11  1003.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   12         1003.42 Required instruction.—
   13         (2) Members of the instructional staff of the public
   14  schools, subject to the rules of the State Board of Education
   15  and the district school board, shall teach efficiently and
   16  faithfully, using the books and materials required that meet the
   17  highest standards for professionalism and historical accuracy,
   18  following the prescribed courses of study, and employing
   19  approved methods of instruction, the following:
   20         (n) Comprehensive health education that addresses concepts
   21  of community health; consumer health; environmental health;
   22  family life, including an awareness of the benefits of sexual
   23  abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of
   24  teenage pregnancy; mental and emotional health; injury
   25  prevention and safety; Internet safety; nutrition; personal
   26  health; prevention and control of disease; and substance use and
   27  abuse. The health education curriculum for students in grades 7
   28  through 12 shall include a teen dating violence and abuse
   29  component that includes, but is not limited to, the definition
   30  of dating violence and abuse, the warning signs of dating
   31  violence and abusive behavior, the characteristics of healthy
   32  relationships, measures to prevent and stop dating violence and
   33  abuse, and community resources available to victims of dating
   34  violence and abuse. The health education curriculum for students
   35  in grades 9 through 12 shall include a breast cancer and
   36  prostate cancer awareness component that includes, but is not
   37  limited to, the characteristics of and measures to prevent
   38  breast cancer and prostate cancer.
   39  
   40  The State Board of Education is encouraged to adopt standards
   41  and pursue assessment of the requirements of this subsection. A
   42  character development program that incorporates the values of
   43  the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and that is
   44  offered as part of a social studies, English Language Arts, or
   45  other schoolwide character building and veteran awareness
   46  initiative meets the requirements of paragraphs (s) and (t).
   47         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.