S.C.R. No. 29 Summary

• Encourages the Board of Education to adopt Policy 102.9 requiring health education for middle school students and Policy 103.5 to clarify sexual health education requirements with parental opt-out provisions.

• Encourages the Board of Education and Department of Education to rescind proposed Policy 103.8, which would ban condom distribution on school campuses and at school events.

• Cites Hawaii's tenth highest teen pregnancy rate among states and annual taxpayer costs of $32,000,000 for teen childbearing, with 71 percent being state and local costs.

• Notes that section 321-11.1, Hawaii Revised Statutes requires state-funded sexuality health education to be medically accurate and age appropriate, including education on abstinence, contraception, and disease and pregnancy prevention methods.

• References a 2012 Hawaii Adolescent Reproductive Health Survey showing 97 percent of participants support sexual health education in school curricula.