Bill Text: VA SB1475 | 2017 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Family life education; changes to curriculum guidelines and curricula.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-03-24 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0692) [SB1475 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2017-SB1475-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 by December
1, 1987, standards Standards of learning Learning and
curriculum guidelines for a comprehensive, sequential family life education
curriculum in grades K 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; dating violence, the characteristics of abusive relationships,
steps to take to avoid 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 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.
For the purposes of this section, "abstinence
education" means an educational or motivational component which has as its
exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be
realized by teenagers' abstaining from sexual activity before marriage.
§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, and sexual violence. 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.