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# Sex education reform on the horizon
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/sex-education-reform-on-the-horizon/
- Published: 2003-09-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:54:51.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

A bill designed to reform sex education and written by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D- Santa Monica), passed the Senate floor Thursday and is headed to Gov. Gray Davis for him to sign.

The bill addresses the patchwork of sex education laws enacted over the last 35 years and scattered throughout the education code by replacing them with one single statute governing comprehensive sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention. According to a study, 85 percent of school districts are out of compliance with at least one component of California’s current requirements.

“The magnitude of this non-compliance does not stem from California school districts willfully ignoring statutory requirements; it’s because the scattered statutory requirements are conflicting, confusing and contradictory,” Kuehl said. “This is why the clarification provided by SB 71 is desperately needed in our schools.”

The bill eliminates contradictions in current law by establishing a definition of comprehensive sexual health education, setting age-appropriate grade floors for required topics, creating a uniform parental consent policy and ensuring that instruction is age appropriate, scientifically current and bias free. The bill continues to mandate HIV/AIDS prevention education and gives schools the discretion as to whether to teach sex education. The measure also stresses the importance of students talking to their parents about the issues.

“Students need this instruction and parents are overwhelming supportive of schools providing comprehensive sex education in the classroom,” Kuehl said. “We owe it to parents, students, and educators to provide coherent sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention guidelines that ensure students receive the information they need to maintain their health and safety.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 13, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/091303.pdf?ref=smdp.com)