SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — A new bill that passed the Washington Senate last week may require comprehensive sexual education classes for grades six through 12 in 2020 and kindergarten through 12th grade the next year.
Senate Bill 5395 passed last week. It would require public schools to provide comprehensive sexual health education for grades kindergarten through 12.
Right now, schools are just required to teach HIV and AIDS prevention classes.
Spokane Public Schools spokesman Brian Coddington said the district is actually a few steps ahead of the bill.
"We're already in the process of updating our curriculum. We have a K-12 curriculum that is age appropriate," Coddington say.
SPS has been offering sex education classes in all grade levels for several years now. Coddington said classes start in kindergarten with students learning about friendly relationships and communication. By 12th grade, they've transitioned into more of the in-depth content typically discussed in sex education classes.
"We're looking very closely at our curriculum to update it to go to a provider that allows some flexibility to be current and relevant in our community," Coddington said.
There's a work group of parents and school staff who meet weekly to recommend how to best teach this content to students of all ages, Coddington said, which is working with each grade level to adopt updated curriculum.
The Central Valley School District is also working ahead. Marla Nunberg, CVSD spokesperson, said its schools are offering classes at all grade levels in a similar way as SPS.
She said students start learning about reproduction and reproductive health starting in middle school through high school, but that the district isn't making any updates to its curriculum.
Senate Bill 5395 would make it so parents would still have the option to opt out at the beginning of each school year.