TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that allows parents to waive having their students learn about sex education, through written request.
HB 545, now law, requires that parents be notified of the right to request an exemption for lessons involving reproductive health and disease through website homepage language and links to review instructional materials.
Going forward, parents will be able to send in written requests to exempt their children from learning about sex or diseases such as HIV or AIDS.
Lessons subject to the requested exemption would, according to law, include information about disease symptoms, development and treatment, and would have to be annually approved by a district school board in an open public meeting, with notice given beforehand.
The process to request an exemption must also be detailed and available for parents online, along with the aforementioned information about the instructional materials for review.
According to a Florida Senate summary, the bill requires that each school district board must be responsible for the content of instructional materials used to teach reproductive health or diseases, and that each board must adopt rules that must be implemented to allow the public to review, comment on, and then adopt the materials.
