Gov. Brown signs math misplacement, sexual health education bills
Published: October 7, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation addressing the issue of math misplacement, as well as a bill significantly expanding the scope of sexual health education in K-12 education.
Senate Bill 359 (Mitchell – D, Los Angeles) establishes the California Math Misplacement Act of 2015, which requires local education agencies to develop, establish and implement a fair, objective and transparent mathematics placement policy. Math misplacement occurs when students are held back in math even though objective measures such as grades and test scores indicate they should advance to the next course; a study by the Noyce Foundation revealed that African-Americans and Latinos are often disproportionately impacted by the issue. This legislation requires LEAs to examine pupil placement data to ensure that there is no disproportionate impact in the course placement of pupils by race, ethnicity or socioeconomic background. CSBA supports SB 359.
Assembly Bill 329 (Weber – D, San Diego) helps to promote student wellness by making sexual health education a requirement for public schools. The bill includes important revisions and updates to educational content related to HIV and AIDS prevention, the expansion of what topics students are learning in sexual health education and the inclusion of different sexual orientations. The bill also clarifies both the “opt-in” and “opt-out” processes: parents still retain the right to excuse their child from all or part of sexual education if they desire to do so, and districts are prohibited from requiring active consent for their child to participate. This essentially ensures that all children will receive sexual health education unless they are specifically requested to be opted-out. CSBA supports AB 329.
Gov. Brown has until Oct. 11 to sign additional legislation.