Reproductive Equity Now Applauds Healey-Driscoll Administration Proposal to Update Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Sexual Health Education Framework

Updated draft framework will ensure sexual health education is LGBTQ+ inclusive, medically accurate, and age-appropriate

Repro Equity Now: ‘Our schools will be places where students feel protected, loved, and accepted’

BOSTON (June 21, 2023) – Today, the Healey-Driscoll administration announced that it is proposing a new draft Comprehensive Health and Physical Education to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). The draft framework updates guidelines for health and physical education, including gender, sexual orientation, and sexual health education, to ensure that it is LGBTQ+ inclusive, medically accurate, and developmentally- and age-appropriate. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s existing Comprehensive Health Framework was last updated in 1999.

“As extremists continue to wage attacks on health care, trans kids, and the lessons we teach in the classroom, ensuring that Massachusetts leads with sexual health education that is medically accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive, and age-appropriate has never been more important,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now. “The Healey-Driscoll administration is making Massachusetts values clear: our schools will be places where students feel protected, loved, and accepted. Our educators will give students the tools and support to make safe and healthy decisions about their reproductive lives, and provide them with honest and accurate education to help them navigate an increasingly hostile and confusing world. Today’s announcement to update the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Comprehensive Health Education Framework is key to setting Massachusetts students up for success.”

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, at its regular meeting on June 27, will hear a presentation on the draft framework and vote on whether to send it out for public comment. If the Board votes to do so, educators, parents, advocates and members of the public will have 60 days to comment on the draft framework. After the public comment period, DESE will consider the feedback and bring the draft back to the Board for a vote on adoption.

Research shows that sexual health education delays the initiation of sex, reduces pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), helps young people develop healthy relationships, prevents dating violence and sexual abuse, and improves academic outcomes.

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