Should California schools have to share sex ed materials online? One lawmaker says yes

Once again, a Republican California lawmaker has introduced a bill that would amend state law to require school districts to publish sex education and HIV prevention education materials online before they are shown to children.

This time, the effort comes in the form of Senate Bill 996, by Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita.

The bill would amend the California Healthy Youth Act, which went into effect in 2016. It mandates that school districts provide comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education at least once in middle school and again in high school.

That law already requires school districts to make such materials available for inspection, but Wilk’s bill would go further by mandating that such materials be posted online. It also would require districts to hold publicly advertised meetings to instruct people who to access them.

Previous versions of this bill were introduced by other lawmakers in 2019 and 2021 . Both bills died in committee.

Wilk said he was inspired to introduce this latest effort by last year’s floor debate over Assemblyman Corey Jackson’s Assembly Bill 1078, which barred school districts from banning LGBTQ or racially inclusive books and instructional materials.

That bill bitterly divided Republican and Democratic lawmakers, with Wilk and other Republican senators voting against it, along with Democratic Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil.

“I was really struck by how everybody was talking over each other and not listening,” Wilk told The Sacramento Bee in a recent interview.

He said his intention with SB 996 was to foster greater collaboration between parents and schools on a sensitive subject.

“Basically, it’s just a transparency bill, so parents have access to it,” Wilk said.

Though the bill has yet to be assigned to a committee, it likely will end up before the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Josh Newman, D-Anaheim.

Wilk said he hasn’t yet spoken to Newman about the bill, nor has he sought co-authors for it.

Asked whether the bill has any sponsors or supporters outside the Legislature, Wilk said no. However, the conservative group the California Family Council has championed previous attempts to get a similar law passed.

At the California Department of Education, spokesman Brody Fernandez told The Bee in a statement that his department is “monitoring the bill’s referral to committee and pending analysis.”

Jennifer Wonnacott of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, which advocates for comprehensive sexual health education in state schools, said that her organization is still reviewing newly introduced legislation and has not yet taken an official position.

“However, we do generally oppose efforts to hinder access to full and comprehensive health education as required by CHYA,” she said.

Asked whether his bill would lead to outside parties stirring up outrage over educational materials they disagreed with, Wilk disagreed.

“I think there’s probably more outrage if there’s information and you can’t find it,” he said.

This story was originally published February 8, 2024 at 11:39 AM.