Senate Bill 5395, passed by the legislature and Washington voters in 2020, requires all public schools to provide comprehensive sexual health education by the 2022-23 school year. Instruction must be age-appropriate, medically and scientifically accurate, and inclusive of all students, using language and strategies that recognize all members of protected classes. Implementation requirements vary by grade. See OSPI’s website for additional information about the law’s requirements. 

The curricula must include affirmative consent and bystander training. This is a huge win for preventing sexual violence!

This change did not come with any funding, and most programs don’t have the capacity to implement prevention curriculums in all schools in their service areas. Schools are responsible for reviewing their sexual health education curriculum to ensure they’re meeting all of the requirements outlined in the law, and community-based sexual assault programs aren’t required to be involved with implementation.

As content experts in their communities, sexual assault programs and services providers can play an important role in partnering with schools to implement these new requirements. Sexual assault programs can teach about affirmative consent and bystander intervention and provide support and advocacy for students who have experienced sexual violence. Some of the sexual assault programs funded by OCVA to provide prevention services include components of sexual health education in their curriculum, although this is not the expectation.