HB2830

THE CONTEXT: Statute requires SBE to prescribe competency and minimum course of study requirements that must be taught in common schools and that students must complete in order to graduate from high school. A school district governing board (governing board) must prescribe: 1) curricula that include the SBE-adopted academic standards; and 2) criteria for the promotion of students from common schools and for the graduation of students from high school.

WHAT THE BILL DID: The final vetoed version would require SBE to: a; determine the grade levels in which instruction on fetal and prenatal human development is appropriate; b; adopt science academic standards that require instruction on fetal and prenatal human development that is: i; consistent with the prescribed requirements; ii; age-appropriate, factual and focused on only prenatal human development as a biological process; and c; include instruction on fetal and prenatal human development in the science competency requirements for common schools or high school graduation, or both, mandate SBE require that instruction on fetal and prenatal human development include an overview of: a; prenatal human development that explains the biological process by which a human develops from a single cell, through successive stages, before birth; b; fertilization and early cellular development; c; the stages of prenatal development; d; major developmental milestones; e; supporting biological structures necessary for development; and f; general principles of healthy prenatal development, and details what must be included in the required overviews of: a; fertilization and early cellular development; b; the stages of prenatal development; c; major developmental milestones; and d; supporting biological structures that are necessary for development.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to turn the Legislature's standard for fetal and prenatal development into an enforceable rule. It would require SBE to: a. determine the grade levels in which instruction on fetal and prenatal human development is appropriate; b. adopt science academic standards that require instruction on fetal and prenatal human development that is: i. consistent with the prescribed requirements; ii. age-appropriate, factual and focused on only prenatal human development as a biological process; and c. include instruction on fetal and prenatal human development in the science competency requirements for common schools or high school graduation, or both, and would also mandate SBE require that instruction on fetal and prenatal human development include an overview of: a. prenatal human development that explains the biological process by which a human develops from a single cell, through successive stages, before birth; b. fertilization and early cellular development; c. the stages of prenatal development; d. major developmental milestones; e. supporting biological structures necessary for development; and f. general principles of healthy prenatal development, rather than leave the current rule unchanged.