METROPOLIS – State Representative Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) issued the following statement on Friday evening, following a late-afternoon bill signing by Governor JB Pritzker. Gov. Pritzker signed SB 818 today, a new law that mandates school districts in Illinois to teach controversial Federal sexual education curriculum starting in kindergarten.
”I objected to several of the provisions included in SB 818, among them being the requirement that schools that do not teach curriculum included in Federal sexual education standards would be barred from teaching any sexual education at all. The images, themes, and content in the sample materials that I’ve seen are not what I consider age-appropriate.
This new law moves the current minimum age for mandated sexual education from sixth grade to kindergarten, and goes as far as prohibiting any instruction or materials in the classroom which might conflict with the federal sexual education standards. By passing this legislation, the State of Illinois is interfering with important conversations and decisions I believe are best left to parents and local education officials.”