South Central Reporter

Lisa Smith, the Republican candidate to represent House District 96 says she does not support SB818, the law that updates sex education standards for Illinois schools.

“No, I do not support SB818. I had been trying to educate my district on this issue before it became law," Smith said. "The national sex education standards have only been adopted by Illinois, I believe, because they are thought to be inappropriate to most reasonable people and families. This shows how far left our ISBE has become. Pushing a private agenda on an entire system and indoctrinating our children into their belief system and not what the majority of Illinois parents believe. It is dangerous and totally inappropriate.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed SB 818 into law in Aug. 2021, requiring all schools K-12 that teach sex education to align their curriculum with certain standards, according to a press release. "Modernizing our sex education standards will help keep our children safe and ensure important lessons like consent and internet safety are taught in classrooms," Pritzker said.

Smith said sex education is better taught at home.

“I believe that this type of rhetoric has no place in the public school system. These young children do not have the capacity to process this information correctly," Smith said. "This is not an issue that we should be talking about to our children in the school. It is for home and parents to decide when they are ready to talk to them. Also, many parents believe this is teaching their children to accept something they don't believe to be right. Our schools should be focused on reading, writing, math, science, and civics. That's it.”

The new sex education curriculum will be based on the National Sex Education Standards (NSES), which include teaching children in kindergarten through second grade to define gender and gender identity, as well as gender-role stereotypes, and teaching the students the medically accurate names for body parts, including genitals, according to a report from Breakthrough Ideas. 

According to Breakthrough Ideas, children in grades 3 through 5 will be taught about masturbation; hormonal development and the role of hormone blockers; the differences between cisgender, transgender, and gender nonbinary; and the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Children in grades 6 through 8 will be taught to define oral sex, anal sex, and vaginal sex, and instructed to identify at least four methods of contraception that are available without a prescription, such as condoms and emergency contraception. High school students will be taught about "reproductive justice," as well as how to differentiate between sex assigned at birth, gender identity, and gender expression.

According to test scores from the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness, less than 20% of Chicago third graders can read or do math at grade level proficiency, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Statewide, only 38% of students read at grade level, according to Wirepoints.

Smith faces incumbent Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur) in the November general election.