SE Illinois News

State Sen. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) is pushing back against proposed sex education legislation. 

Senate Bill 818, according to Fowler and other critics of the bill, would "completely change how sex education is taught to Illinois students."

“Remember this bill? Around 70% of schools opted out of this legislation after hearing from an overwhelming amount of parents and administrators! Now HB 5188 has been filed to make the curriculum mandatory for all schools. This bill is being heard in exec now!” Fowler said on Facebook on Friday.

Fowler has always been an opponent of mandatory sex education.

“In May 2021, I voted against the controversial SB 818, which rewrote our state’s sex education standards but allowed local districts the ability to opt out of teaching the curriculum," he said in a statement following the Senate Executive Committee’s passage of HB 518. "Since then, seventy percent of districts, at the cry of parents across our state, chose to opt out. And now, lawmakers are telling parents ‘we know better’ by pushing new legislation to mandate these controversial standards in all of our schools. This latest, late-night move to force this upon our schools is wrong and parents should be appalled.” 

The Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) issued a “call to action” against HB 5188. The IASB included an appeal to members to contact legislators to express a lack of support.

“We need your help to stop the passage of HB 5188, as amended, which will MANDATE Illinois public schools to teach 'age appropriate' sex education beginning in kindergarten,” the IASB said in its alert. “PLEASE ACT NOW to contact your State Senator to encourage them to VOTE NO on House Bill 5188, as amended. The full language of the amendment can be found on the General Assembly Website.” 

Encouraging the community to call their Senators directly, IASB also said "State Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) posted an amendment to HB 5188 that would require sex ed to be taught in kindergarten through grade 12 in Illinois schools. IASB has worked in good faith with stakeholders on sex ed standards and curriculum for several years. Previous sex ed bills focused on content of curriculum while still preserving local control around the decision to offer sex ed to all students. HB 5188 removes that local option and MANDATES the national sex ed curriculum standards for all schools.”  

Awake Illinois previously shared a press release describing the bill and its effects. According to the resource "public schools must provide age and developmentally appropriate consent education from kindergarten through 12th grades,” no later than July 1. The courses must incorporate and align with the "National Sex Education Standards" published by the Future of Sex Education. The bill would expect 2nd graders to be able to define: consent, gender identity and stereotypes, reproduction; and identify different types of families, including cohabitating and same gender; 5th graders to describe the potential role of hormone blockers on young people who identify as transgender, distinguish between "sex assigned at birth and gender identity," define and explain differences between cisgender, transgender, gender nonbinary, gender expansive, and gender identity, explain that gender expression and identity exist along a spectrum; 8th graders to define sexual identity and explain heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, two-spirit, asexual, pansexual; they should also be able to define vaginal, oral, and anal sex; describe pregnancy options, including abortion; All pregnant young people can decide about their reproductive health; The use of a student's self-selected pronouns; They also specify that no one, other than the individual, is "qualified to label or judge another person's sexual identity, including their sexual orientation or gender identity."

The bill is seen as a way of mandating the sexual education standards included in SB 818 signed into law last year by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. That law, unlike this one, allowed school districts to opt out. SB 818 law requires children as young as 8 to receive lessons on sexual education. The law was billed as a way to standardize state and federal sexual education standards.

State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) has suggested conservatives run for local school boards in order to take back control of the reigns of education, according to Macon Reporter.