SE Illinois News

State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) is calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to veto a bill that would require schools to teach sex education to students as early as at the kindgergarten level.

Senate Bill 818 stipulates that a school district “provide comprehensive personal health and safety education in kindergarten through the 5th grade and comprehensive sexual health education in the 6th through 12th grades in all public schools.”

From the bill’s introduction, Niemerg stood as a vocal critic.

“The more I looked into it, the more I researched it, quite frankly the angrier I became because I have a 2-year-old little girl who is getting ready to turn 3 in June and I have a 6-year-old son who just finished up kindergarten and they are my world and to think that our schools could be teaching something like this to my daughter or my son is infuriating,” he said.

Niemerg and other Republican lawmakers have already penned a letter to Pritzker asking him to reject legislation that has already passed both the House and Senate.

Niemerg said he worries about what comes next.

“The national sex education standards that were pointed out in previous debate are going to be used when it comes to formulating this curriculum,” he said. “And this curriculum will have detrimental impact on our children.”

Niemerg said he has a simple philosophy when it comes to educating young children about such issues.

“I believe it is best left to parents and local school boards to represent the standards of their communities,” he said, adding that he has heard from parents, teachers, and school officials who overwhelmingly oppose this latest mandate and restriction on their ability to set proper curriculum for their students.

“Let me be clear, I will not co-parent with the government,” he said. “This goes well beyond acceptable health and safety standards.”