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Did Katie Hobbs co-sponsor a bill to start age-appropriate sex education in kindergarten?

By Jordan Gerard
YES

While serving in the Arizona Legislature in 2016, then-Democratic Sen. Katie Hobbs co-sponsored a bill that would have required medically accurate, developmentally accurate and age-appropriate sex education from kindergarten through grade 12. The legislation stalled after failing to get a committee hearing. 

The bill defined “age-appropriate” as “topics, messages and teaching methods that are suitable to particular age and developmental levels, based on the cognitive, emotional, social and experience levels of most students at that age level.” Medically accurate was defined as peer-reviewed research with accepted scientific methods that are accurate and objective by leading medical organizations.

The bill also would have changed Arizona’s opt-in system (where parents can review the curricula first and then give written permission for their child to participate) to opt-out. Parents would have been able to opt their child out before the curriculum was taught.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Arizona Legislature Senate Bill 1020 2016
Arizona Legislature Senate Bill 1020 (2016) status
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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.
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