Take Action: Testify at the Public Hearing

Testifying at the hearing on the Health Education Bill is a chance to voice your support for health education in the Massachusetts public schools.

Any member of the public can testify at the hearing. Hearings on state legislation take place at the Massachusetts State House. Testimony is usually limited to three minutes. If you cannot attend the hearing, you can submit written testimony to the Joint Committee on Education by mail or e-mail.

*The Health Education Bill will be heard by the Joint Committee on Education on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 1:00pm at the Massachusetts State House in Room A-1.

Tips on Testifying at the State House

Please try to incorporate the following points into your testimony:

1. Introduce yourself -
   1. State your full name
   2. State the city/town you live in
2. State why adding comprehensive health education to the core curriculum is an important issue to you.
3. Tell a personal story or anecdote that demonstrates the necessity for this bill.
4. Make sure to state that you are a PARENT who supports the Health Education Bill.
5. State that there is a coalition of over 100 groups that supports the Health Education Bill.

Please use the below talking points as a guide when crafting your individual testimony.

Top Message:

Health education saves lives. Young people need access to comprehensive health education in order to make responsible decisions, prevent disease, reduce risky behaviors, and lead healthy lives. The Health Education Bill ensures that the young people of the Commonwealth will receive the health education that they need and deserve.

Supporting Messages:

Comprehensive health education should be required in all Massachusetts public schools. It should be available universally, not as an accident of geography.

Massachusetts voters support comprehensive health education. In a recent poll, over 70% of Massachusetts voters (those with children and without) would support making comprehensive health education a part of the core curriculum in public schools.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

• What is CARE for Youth?

  CARE for Youth is a broad, statewide coalition of organizations and individuals that has formed to advocate for comprehensive health education in the public schools.

• What does the Health Education Bill do?

  • This bill makes comprehensive health education part of the core curriculum for Massachusetts public schools.
  • School districts would be required to teach age-appropriate, medically accurate health education in grades K-12.
  • The bill's definition of "Health Education" is based on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Education Curriculum Frameworks that were developed by the Department of Education under the Education Reform Act of 1993.

• Will this bill eliminate the ability of parents to opt their children out of sex education?

  • No, parents will still have the ability to opt their children out of sex education classes.
  • The Health Education Bill specifically states that the opt-out provision applies to any portion of the health education curriculum primarily involving human sexual education or human sexuality issues.

• Why is this bill necessary?

  • Massachusetts does not require or fund comprehensive health education, resulting in major inconsistencies across the state. Currently, there are disparities from town to town-and even from school to school-in the health education that students receive in public schools.
  • According to the 2005 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey , young people in the Commonwealth are very much in need of health education. Among Massachusetts high school students:
    • 51% had tried smoking cigarettes at least once in their lifetime.
    • 27% engaged in at least one episode of binge drinking in the month prior to the survey.
    • 13% had seriously considered suicide.
    • Among sexually active students, only 65% used a condom the last time they had sex.
    • 45% have had sexual intercourse in their lifetimes
    • 29% were in a physical fight in the 12 months before the survey.
    • 27% are overweight or at risk for being overweight.

• What topics are covered by the health education framework?

  • The standards provide instruction in the areas of: growth and physical development, physical activity and fitness, nutrition, violence prevention, reproduction/sexuality, mental health, family life, interpersonal relationships, disease prevention and control, safety and injury prevention, tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use/abuse prevention, consumer health and resource management, ecological health, and community and public health.

• At what grade level would health education begin under the framework?

  • The framework covers all grade levels, K-12.
  • Different components of the health education curriculum framework would be phased in at different grade levels, on an age-appropriate basis.
  • The Health Education Bill specifically states that the curriculum must be age appropriate.

• How will communities afford this new mandate?

  • The cost impact will vary from school district to school district. For school districts that currently teach health education the cost will be minimal. For school districts that do not, the costs will be more significant.
  • Massachusetts used to provide grant funding for communities to expand the quality and availability of health education in the public schools. Funding for these programs was eliminated during the recent recession.
  • Restoration of funding for these programs would help communities cover the cost of providing comprehensive health education.
  • This legislation will save taxpayer dollars by preventing costly societal challenges such as unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, obesity, school violence, substance abuse, and tobacco use. The savings will far exceed the cost of the investment it would take to fund this bill.

• How will school districts fit this into the school day?

  • Health education was always intended to be part of the curriculum for public schools under the Education Reform Act of 1993.
  • Health education is already incorporated into the Department of Education's Time and Learning standards.
  • The State Supreme Judicial Court, in their McDuffy decision, included health education as one of the components of an adequate public education.
  • Many components of the health education curriculum framework can be integrated into the curriculum of other subjects, such as science and social studies.
  • Health education is vitally important for young people; and unfortunately, it currently gets short shrift due to its exclusion from the core curriculum.

• Will this mean that there will be an MCAS for health education?

  • No, the bill does not require an MCAS component for health education.