- California Education Code § 51933-51934, known as the California Healthy Youth Act, requires school districts to ensure that all students in grades 7–12 receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV/AIDS prevention education at least once in middle school and once in high school.
- California mandates that sex-ed curricula be age-appropriate, medically accurate, objective, and “appropriate for use with pupils of all races, genders, sexual orientations, and ethnic and cultural backgrounds; pupils with disabilities; and English learners.”
- Sex ed curricula must be culturally competent for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities, include instruction on gender identity and expression, and when providing examples of relationships and couples, must include examples of same-sex relationships.
- Sex ed instruction must teach students about gender, gender expression, gender identity, and gender stereotypes.
- Sex ed instruction must include information on abstinence.
- Schools in California are not required to teach consent, but they must include instruction on healthy relationships. The updated Health Education Curriculum Framework also includes instruction on affirmative consent.
- No program may “promote or teach religious doctrine.”
- All instruction must encourage parent-child communication about sexuality.
- All instruction must provide information about the effectiveness and safety of all FDA-approved contraceptive methods in preventing pregnancy.
- In 2022, AB 2586 was passed, which made possible one-time small grants to organizations that provide sex education.
- In 2023, AB 1071 was passed, which authorized school districts to provide teen dating violence prevention education in grades 7-12.
- In 2023, AB 1078 was passed, which states that school districts can only remove books from libraries with approval of the state board. It also ensures that when instructional materials are approved, they include contributions from people of all gender expressions, and are representative of California’s diversity.
- In 2023, SR 13 was passed, which established February as Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, calling for schools to observe the month with programs and activities that raise awareness about the dynamics of teen dating violence and that support youth in learning the skills to have safe and healthy relationships.
- Parents or guardians may remove their children from sex-ed classes. This is referred to as an opt-out policy.
- The Health Education Content Standards for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve and Health Education Framework for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve provide guidance for sex ed curricula.
Some Sex Ed Advocates Within the State
For more detailed information on how various districts in the state have been implementing these standards — and for recent legislation — you can read SIECUS’s California profile.