Healey proposes new health, physical education framework for local schools

The Healey administration announced Wednesday the first proposed update to the state’s health and physical education framework in 25 years, arguing their new guidelines for local education officials are “grounded in science” and offer medically accurate, age-appropriate materials.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework offers guidance to municipal school officials, who take the broad learning objectives established by the Healey administration and implement them as they see fit.

The document was last revised in 1999, and Gov. Maura Healey said the new draft under consideration by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is inclusive of “gay, queer, and trans students’ identities and needs.”

“That’s important and it’s not something that we’re going to shy away from. Our LGBTQ+ students face higher risks of mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and suicidality,” Healey said at the State House. “That’s just a fact. They need and deserve to be supported, educated and empowered for who they are. Just like every other student.”

A copy of the draft, accessible online, will be considered at the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s June 27 meeting, where members will vote on whether to release the framework for a 60-day public comment period. After public comment, the board will take a vote on adoption.

State education officials said students’ school experiences have changed drastically over the past 25 years with the rise of the internet, handheld mobile devices, and video games. Board Chair Katherine Craven said young students consume media at younger ages than any other generation.

“[That] has exposed them to social upheaval unlike children of any other generation,” Craven said. “We hear from teachers and principals across the commonwealth that mental health and behavioral disruptions are occurring at unprecedented levels.”

The health curriculum framework defines what students are expected to know and be able to do once they graduate from high school, not how teachers should teach the material, the administration said.

The draft proposed by the Healey administration uses eight “guiding principal[s]” that focus on skills for research, reasoning, and decision-making; developmentally and age-appropriate teachings that are also trauma sensitive; incorporation of diverse perspectives; and dedicated courses for physical and health education every year from pre-kindergarten to senior year, among other things.

And lawmakers say there are vast differences between the 1999 framework and the one proposed Wednesday.

Rep. Jim O’Day — who along with Sen. Sal DiDomenico have championed legislation for years that would require schools who teach sex ed to do so with scientifically accurate information —  said the 1999 framework still recommends abstinence.

The proposed update goes beyond abstinence, he said, and also discusses contraception.

DiDomenico said the abstinence-only model “doesn’t work for our kids.”

“We had our head in the sand for many, many years thinking that if we don’t talk about it, things aren’t getting talked about,” DiDomenico said. “… We’ve had a whole generation of kids going by in our school system that weren’t taught this curriculum.”

Department of Higher Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said work on the new curriculum started in 2018, when he first joined the department under former Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican.

“We started the process in earnest of getting this moving,” he said. “Obviously, we were kind of waylaid by COVID for a few years, and we’ve got it across the finish line now, but there’s a process that takes place.”

State law allows parents to opt their children out of lessons related to sex education, which the Healey administration said is “a small portion of the knowledge covered” in the proposed framework.

O’Day said now “is exactly the right time to finally update the commonwealth’s antiquated” framework.

“Today, several southern states either prohibit sex educators from discussing LGBTQ+ identities, relationships or require sex educators to frame LGBTQ+ identities … negatively,” he said. “We will not do that in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.”