Sex education curriculum kept out of K-5 classes with Tennessee bill
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — No students in grades K-5 will see any content related to “sexual activity” when it comes to family life curriculum in Tennessee.
Monday afternoon, the Tennessee Senate gave the final legislative OK to a measure designed to keep age-inappropriate materials from family life curriculum classes in elementary schools.
The text of the bill approved in the Senate says “instruction in topics related to sexual activity are not age-appropriate for students in any of the grades K-5 and must not be taught to students in any of the grades K-5 as part of a family life curriculum.”
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This does not apply to information related to the “detection, intervention, prevention, and treatment of child sexual abuse and human trafficking” involving children, but in all other instances, no “information related to sexual activity” will be taught to students in Kindergarten through fifth grade.
On the Senate floor Monday, April 22, Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) raised concerns that the measure may prohibit girls who get their first periods earlier than sixth grade from learning about their bodies, saying “sexual activity” could be interpreted to mean a girl’s body reaching sexual maturity as evidenced by menstruation.
Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) sought to clarify if the bill meant students in grades K-5 would not be forced to watch the “Baby Olivia” video, as required by other legislation brought by state Republicans.
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Both questions were not expressly answered by the sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Dawn White (R-Murfreesboro), however, as the senator chose only to reread the legislative summary of the bill.
The House passed the measure nearly unanimously, with only Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) opposed. The Senate vote fell similarly, with only Sens. Campbell and Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) opposed.
Now that it has passed both chambers of the legislature, the bill moves to Gov. Bill Lee‘s desk for his signature.
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