THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	233
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the board of education to evaluate the necessity of mandatory health education that includes medically accurate sex education in intermediate and middle schools.

     WHEREAS, health education, including sex education for fifth graders, is an important part of a student's education in the elementary schools; and

     WHEREAS, one semester of health education is a graduation requirement for students in public high schools and is usually offered in the ninth or tenth grades; and

     WHEREAS, health education in intermediate and middle schools, however, is increasingly becoming an elective instead of a mandatory course because schools are placing much greater emphasis on attaining Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act; and

     WHEREAS, sexual health and responsibility, mental and emotional health, personal health and wellness, and promoting safety and preventing violence and unintentional injury are topics that should be covered under the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards III; and

     WHEREAS, the goal of standards-based school health education is to help adolescents develop the essential skills necessary to adopt and maintain healthy behaviors; and

     WHEREAS, this goal cannot be met if health education is considered an elective course of study; and

     WHEREAS, teen pregnancy, abstinence, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, and how to deal with peer pressure are topics that are covered under the health standards; and

     WHEREAS, students need to receive these kinds of information early and have it reinforced during their formative and transitional years, from elementary to intermediate or middle school to high school; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Board of Education is requested to evaluate the necessity of mandatory health education, which would include medically accurate sex education in the intermediate and middle schools; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board of Education is requested to submit a report on its findings and recommendations, including information on implementation for a mandatory course of study in health education in intermediate and middle schools, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2009; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

BOE; Sex Education