Bill Text: VA SB1141 | 2019 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Family life education; BOE to include instruction on prevention of human trafficking.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)
Status: (Passed) 2019-03-18 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0595) [SB1141 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2019-SB1141-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§22.1-207.1 and 22.1-207.1:1 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§22.1-207.1. Family life education.
A. As used in this section, "abstinence education" means an educational or motivational component that has as its exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by teenagers' abstaining from sexual activity before marriage.
B. The Board of Education shall develop Standards of Learning
and curriculum guidelines for a comprehensive, sequential family life education
curriculum in grades kindergarten through 12. Such curriculum guidelines shall
include instruction as appropriate for the age of the student in family living
and community relationships; the benefits, challenges, responsibilities, and
value of marriage for men, women, children, and communities; the value of
family relationships; abstinence education; the value of postponing sexual
activity; the benefits of adoption as a positive choice in the event of an
unwanted pregnancy; human sexuality; human reproduction; the prevention of
human trafficking; dating violence, the characteristics of abusive
relationships, steps to take to deter sexual assault, and the
availability of counseling and legal resources, and, in the event of such sexual
assault, the importance of immediate medical attention and advice, as well as
the requirements of the law; the etiology, prevention, and effects of sexually
transmitted diseases; and mental health education and awareness.
C. All such instruction shall be designed to promote parental involvement, foster positive self-concepts, and provide mechanisms for coping with peer pressure and the stresses of modern living according to the students' developmental stages and abilities. The Board shall also establish requirements for appropriate training for teachers of family life education, which shall include training in instructional elements to support the various curriculum components.
§22.1-207.1:1. Family life education; certain curricula and Standards of Learning.
A. Any family life education curriculum offered by a local school division shall require the Standards of Learning objectives related to dating violence and the characteristics of abusive relationships to be taught at least once in middle school and at least twice in high school, as described in the Board of Education's family life education guidelines.
B. Any high school family life education curriculum offered by
a local school division shall incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective
and evidence-based programs on the prevention of dating violence, domestic
abuse, sexual harassment, including sexual harassment using electronic means,
and sexual violence, and human trafficking and may incorporate
age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs on the law
and meaning of consent. Such age-appropriate elements of effective and
evidence-based programs on the prevention of sexual violence may include
instruction that increases student awareness of the fact that consent is required
before sexual activity.
C. Any family life education curriculum offered in any elementary school, middle school, or high school shall incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs on the importance of the personal privacy and personal boundaries of other individuals and tools for a student to use to ensure that he respects the personal privacy and personal boundaries of other individuals.
D. Any family life education curriculum offered by a local school division may incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs on the prevention, recognition, and awareness of child abduction, child abuse, child sexual exploitation, and child sexual abuse.
