SE Illinois News

Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Teutopolis) is speaking out against SB 818, that sets the state's new sex education standards.

“I am adamantly opposed to SB 818. Kids in the third grade are expected to be able to, 'Explain common human sexual development and the role of hormones (e.g., romantic, and sexual feelings, masturbation, mood swings, timing of pubertal onset),'” Niemerg said, quoting the National Sex Education Standards.

"Another goal for third through fifth graders is to be able to, 'Describe the role hormones play in the physical, social, cognitive, and emotional changes during adolescence and the potential role of hormone blockers on young people who identify as transgender,'" Niemerg said.

Niemerg said, "The standards also expect sixth through eighth graders to be able to, 'Define vaginal, oral, and anal sex.'”

"In other words, the National Sex Education Standards go far beyond biology and seek to teach kids at young ages material that is clearly not age appropriate,” Niemerg said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed SB 818 into law in August 2021, requiring all schools K-12 that teach sexual education to align their curriculum with certain standards, according to a press release. "Modernizing our sex education standards will help keep our children safe and ensure important lessons like consent and internet safety are taught in classrooms," Pritzker said. 

Niemerg said he's long opposed these standards.

“I have been sounding the alarm and urging parents to get involved and stop this curriculum from taking hold in their local schools, and numerous districts across the state are opting out," Niemerg said. "These parents are asking questions about how schools can justify teaching radical sex education curriculum when so many of our students are not meeting basic standards of learning. According to the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness text scores, fewer than one in five Chicago third graders met or exceeded Illinois’ education standards in reading and math. And it is not just Chicago with low test scores. School districts across the state are having similar problems.”

Niemerg said schools should be focusing on essentials.

“The focus in our schools should be on giving children the building blocks they need to learn," Niemerg said. "Our kids should learn how to read, write, add, subtract, and have a basic understanding of science and history. It is not the job of schools to teach graphic sexual content especially when our kids are not meeting our state’s basic standards of learning.”

The new sex education curriculum will be based on the National Sex Education Standards (NSES), which include teaching children in kindergarten through second grade to define gender and gender identity, as well as gender-role stereotypes, and teaching the students the medically accurate names for body parts, including genitals.

According to a report from Breakthrough Ideas, children in grades 3 through 5 will be taught about masturbation; hormonal development and the role of hormone blockers; the differences between cisgender, transgender, and gender nonbinary; and the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Children in grades 6 through 8 will be taught to define oral sex, anal sex, and vaginal sex, and instructed to identify at least 4 methods of contraception that are available without a prescription, such as condoms and emergency contraception. High school students will be taught about "reproductive justice," as well as how to differentiate between sex assigned at birth, gender identity, and gender expression.

According to test scores from the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness, less than 20% of Chicago third graders can read or do math at grade level proficiency, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Statewide, only 38% of students read at grade level, according to Wirepoints.

Niemerg is running unopposed in November's general election.