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.