SALT LAKE CITY — The House Education Committee discussed a bill that would make it a rule for parents to opt their children into sex education classes in school.
House Bill 447 would clarify that sex education taught in school would be opt in, meaning parents would have to sign a form if they want their kids taught sex education in junior high and high school.
The bill went up before a committee Monday morning with a lot of questions. The ACLU raised a lot of concerns about it, saying the
definitions in the bill are too broad.
ACLU officials question whether the classic book “The Scarlet Letter” being read in English classes or dissecting an animal in biology classes would somehow run afoul of this law.
The bill’s sponsor Rep. Brad Dee said of course not.
Most of the testimony were in support of this bill.
“We believe that parents should have the ability to control, especially on sensitive topics, their children’s participation, in that sense, this bill seems harmonious with that principal,” said Brad Smith, state superintendent.
The two democrats on the House Education Committee objected to this bill, one saying it arrives too late in the legislative session the other saying it is redundant to existing state school board policy.
It did pass out of committee and now heads to the full House for consideration.
