Sen. Carol Ronen

Filed: 3/14/2005

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 457

2     AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 457 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4     "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Age-appropriate Sex Education Grant Program Act.
 
6     Section 5. Legislative intent. The General Assembly finds
7 and declares that Illinois' teen birth rate, numbering over
8 18,000 per year, ranks among the highest in the nation.
9 Further, the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate
10 of all developed countries. Current research documents the fact
11 that those individuals who receive early, comprehensive,
12 age-appropriate, and scientifically accurate education in the
13 health and other benefits derived from sexual abstinence,
14 family planning, and birth control are more likely to delay
15 sexual activity and engage in such activity later and with a
16 higher degree of responsibility and safety. Comprehensive sex
17 education programs, which complement parental involvement and
18 respect the diversity and values of our State, provide our
19 youth at risk with the foundation to make responsibly informed
20 choices. The earlier these programs are commenced on an
21 age-appropriate basis, the more responsibly our youth will make
22 decisions about sexual activity.
23     The General Assembly further finds and declares that
24 current statistics demonstrate that occurrences of sexually

 

 

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1 transmitted diseases among adolescents have shown an increase
2 over the past several years. Concurrently, adolescents are the
3 fastest growing population of new HIV/AIDS cases. These
4 increases place greater demand on the State's health care
5 delivery system and require that we take immediate action and
6 embark on a dedicated mission to provide targeted at-risk
7 adolescents with a more concentrated sex education program with
8 a significant parental component, designed to inform and
9 instruct them on abstinence, protection, and pregnancy
10 prevention. Nearly half of all new sexually transmitted disease
11 cases occurred among Americans aged 15 to 24. In Illinois,
12 one-third of all Chlamydia cases and over one quarter of all
13 Gonorrhea cases occur in teens ages 15 to 19. By age 24, at
14 least one in 3 sexually active persons are estimated to have
15 had a sexually transmitted disease.
16     It is the intent of the legislature that the
17 age-appropriate sex education grant program established in
18 this Act provide adolescents with the information, assistance,
19 skills, and support to enable them to make responsible
20 decisions, including abstaining from sexual intercourse, and,
21 for those who do become sexually active, the effective use of
22 contraceptives and barrier methods.
 
23     Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act, the
24 following terms shall have the following meanings:
25     "Eligible applicant" means any of the following:
26         (1) A public school district.
27         (2) A community based organization that may be a
28     for-profit corporation or entity or not-for-profit
29     corporation or organization.
30         (3) A religious corporation, church, or other
31     religious entity, provided that, either directly or
32     indirectly, the promotion or teaching of religious tenets
33     is not a component of a sex education program.

 

 

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1         (4) A consortium or partnership formed by a public
2     school district and one or more community based
3     organizations that qualify for the award of an
4     age-appropriate sex education grant by the Illinois
5     Department of Human Services under this Act.
6     "Grant program plan" means the plan submitted to the
7 Department by an eligible applicant under Section 15 of this
8 Act.
9     "State income standard" means the most recent federal
10 income official poverty line as defined annually and revised by
11 the federal Office of Management and Budget adjusted for family
12 size.
13     "Age-appropriate sex education grant program" means a
14 comprehensive age-appropriate sex education program conducted
15 by an eligible applicant under Section 15 of this Act.
16     "Medically accurate" means verified or supported by
17 research conducted in compliance with scientific methods,
18 published in peer-reviewed journals, when appropriate, and
19 recognized as accurate and objective by professional
20 organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant
21 field, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
22     "Department" means the Department of Human Services.
 
23     Section 15. Establishment of age-appropriate sex education
24 grant program; components of instruction; general standards.
25     (a) There is established within the Illinois Department of
26 Human Services an age-appropriate sex education grant program
27 subject to appropriation. The purpose of the program shall be
28 to provide grants to eligible applicants to support
29 age-appropriate sex education programs for young people that
30 provide them with components of instruction set forth in
31 subsection (b).
32     (b) The age-appropriate sex education programs approved
33 under this grant program shall include the following components

 

 

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1 of instruction:
2         (1) Teaches that abstinence is the only sure way to
3     avoid pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
4         (2) Provides information about the health benefits,
5     side effects, and proper use of all contraceptives and
6     barrier methods as a means to prevent pregnancy, including
7     accurate information about effectiveness.
8         (3) Provides information about the health benefits,
9     side effects, and proper use of all contraceptives and
10     barrier methods as a means to reduce the risk of
11     contracting sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, and
12     other diseases.
13         (4) Teaches skills to make responsible decisions about
14     sexuality, including how to avoid unwanted verbal,
15     physical, and sexual advances, and how not to make unwanted
16     verbal, physical, and sexual advances.
17         (5) Teaches how alcohol and drug use can affect
18     responsible decision making.
19         (6) Helps young people to gain knowledge about the
20     physical, biological, and hormonal changes of adolescence
21     and subsequent stages of human maturation.
22         (7) Assists young people in gaining knowledge about the
23     specific involvement and responsibility of both males and
24     females in sexual decision making.
25         (8) Encourages young people to practice healthy life
26     skills, including goal setting, decision making,
27     negotiation, communication, and stress management.
28         (9) Promotes self-esteem and positive interpersonal
29     skills focusing on relationship skills, including
30     platonic, romantic, intimate, and family relationships and
31     interaction.
32     The Department may determine certain components of
33 instruction to be optional in grades kindergarten through 5 for
34 age-appropriate or other practical reasons as specified in the

 

 

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1 application instructions made available by the Department for
2 the purposes of implementing this Act.
3     (c) Any eligible applicant may apply for and, upon approval
4 of the application by the Department, shall be awarded an
5 annual age-appropriate sex education grant if it demonstrates
6 in the grant program plan submitted to the Department that:
7         (1) The components of instruction shall adhere to the
8     following standards:
9             (A) Is age-appropriate.
10             (B) Is medically accurate.
11             (C) Does not teach or promote religion, provided
12         that this item shall not preclude discussion of moral,
13         ethical, or religious views related to sex or sexual
14         relationships.
15             (D) Stresses the value of abstinence while not
16         ignoring those adolescents who have had or who are
17         having sexual intercourse.
18             (E) Encourages family communication about
19         sexuality among parents, other adult household
20         members, and children.
21             (F) Develops the knowledge and skills necessary to
22         ensure and protect young people with respect to their
23         sexual and reproductive health.
24             (G) Develops healthy attitudes and values
25         concerning growth and development, body image, gender
26         roles, sexual orientation, and other subjects.
27         (2) The applicant is capable of providing young persons
28     with an effective sex education program that shall be
29     meaningful, shall substantially involve parents and other
30     adults as feasible and appropriate, and shall be conducted
31     in accordance with this Act and any rule under this Act.
32         (3) If the applicant is a community based organization,
33     religious corporation, church, or other religious entity,
34     it has a demonstrated record of conducting comprehensive

 

 

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1     sex education that conforms to the standards set forth in
2     paragraph (1) of this subsection, it will use instructional
3     strategies that are high quality and based on medically
4     accurate research, it is capable of providing an
5     age-appropriate sex education program to a broad based
6     segment of the youth population in the organization's
7     service area, and it will provide instruction consistent
8     with applicable federal, State, and local health, safety,
9     and civil rights laws. The Department may seek and shall
10     receive any pertinent information or request and receive
11     recommendations as to interactions or prior dealings the
12     community based organization, religious corporation,
13     church, or other religious entity has with any other State
14     or local governmental entity, including, but not limited
15     to, any public school district, in making the determination
16     required by this paragraph.
 
17     Section 20. Application for grants; age-appropriate sex
18 education grant program plan.
19     (a) The Department shall establish an application
20 procedure by which eligible applicants may apply for a grant
21 pursuant to this Act. The Department shall establish the manner
22 and method, including specified objective criteria consistent
23 with this Act, by which the Department shall determine the
24 eligibility of an applicant. Once an application is approved,
25 the Department shall not suspend a grant unless for good cause
26 shown. If an application is rejected by the Department, an
27 eligible applicant is not prohibited from resubmitting a new or
28 supplemental application with the Department for consideration
29 in future years.
30     (b) The eligible applicant shall submit with its
31 age-appropriate sex education grant application its grant
32 program plan to the Department, which shall include but not be
33 limited to:

 

 

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1         (1) The manner in which parents and other adults will
2     be included in the program.
3         (2) An outline for the curriculum to be covered in the
4     eligible applicant's program, including the instructional
5     materials, books, videos, or other instructional tools to
6     be used and the training that will be provided to teachers,
7     personnel, and volunteers who will conduct the program. The
8     curriculum shall include, but need not be limited to, a
9     comprehensive block of instruction that stresses the
10     components of instruction of an age-appropriate sex
11     education grant program as established in Section 15.
12         (3) Any special, unusual, or innovative services,
13     programs, or education methods to be used.
14         (4) The number and types of teachers or personnel to be
15     employed, or volunteers to be used, together with their
16     professional or academic credentials.
17         (5) The geographic area in which the proposed program
18     will be offered and a description of the categories and age
19     groupings of at-risk adolescents included in the program,
20     along with an estimate of the number of adolescents the
21     applicant estimates will participate in the program.
22         (6) A demonstration that the proposed program is
23     adequate in terms of course length and in terms of both
24     short-term and long-range goals.
25         (7) The program is appropriate within the overall goals
26     of school health.
27         (8) The need for the program in the proposed area to be
28     served. In determining the need the Department shall
29     specifically consider the following factors and give
30     special attention to programs servicing areas that have a
31     higher than average incidence in one or more of the
32     following life experiences:
33             (A) The number of reported adolescent pregnancies
34         by persons residing in the area over the previous 10

 

 

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1         years and the number of adolescent parents, including
2         when feasible the number of single parents, who
3         currently reside in the area.
4             (B) The number of reported occurrences of sexually
5         transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS among residents of
6         the area to be served, with particular emphasis on
7         HIV/AIDS.
8             (C) The number of persons residing in the area to
9         be served whose annual personal income is less than
10         150% of the established State income standard and any
11         other generally available statistical data that
12         indicate that the area to be served is economically or
13         otherwise disadvantaged.
14             (D) The high school drop out rate in the area.
15             (E) Any other generally available statistical data
16         that indicate that the area to be served is in need of
17         an age-appropriate sex education program.
18             (F) The success realized by an eligible applicant
19         in reducing unintended pregnancies and cases of
20         sexually transmitted diseases, as well as reducing
21         risky behavior, in programs previously or currently
22         conducted.
23             (G) Any other information as the Department may
24         request.
25     (c) In considering applications submitted by eligible
26 applicants, the Department shall give special attention and
27 priority to applications submitted by an eligible applicant
28 that is a public school district working in consortium or
29 partnership with one or more community based organizations,
30 especially when the community based organization or
31 organizations have a demonstrated record of success in the
32 conduct of sex education programs of a similar nature to the
33 sex education program provided for in this Act.
 

 

 

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1     Section 25. Annual reports by grant recipients.
2     (a) Every eligible applicant that has been awarded a grant
3 under this Act shall file an annual report with the Department,
4 in a form and with the data as the Department prescribes,
5 detailing the expenditure of grant funds, together with an
6 analysis of the age-appropriate sex education grant program it
7 conducted, and a summary of its success or failures in altering
8 attitudes and the acquisition of knowledge regarding the merits
9 of sexual abstinence and methods of preventing unintended
10 pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS.
11     (b) The Department shall, on or before February 1 in each
12 year, submit a report on the program to the Governor and the
13 General Assembly containing its findings and recommendations.
 
14     Section 30. Grants for curriculum development and
15 innovative programming. The Department may award grants to
16 eligible applicants for the development of age appropriate,
17 comprehensive sex education curriculum and innovative
18 programming. The curriculum and programming developed under
19 these grants must include the components outlined in Section
20 15.
 
21     Section 35. Notification to potential applicants. The
22 Department shall at least 90 days prior to the application
23 deadline send to every public school district and to every
24 requesting community based organization a copy of this Act and
25 general information relating to the age-appropriate sex
26 education grant program and the grant application process.
 
27     Section 40. Rules. The Department shall promulgate rules as
28 shall be reasonably necessary to implement and administer the
29 provisions of this Act.
 
30     Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon

 

 

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1 becoming law.".