Alberta carrying on with Bill on sex education despite school board push back

Bill 27 will require Alberta parents to opt in rather than opt out of sex education for their kids. But Edmonton Public Schools unanimously passed a resolution to rally support against that.

“We are right on the precipice of threatening to undo years, decades, of good work in teaching students about consent, sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy,” said Trisha Estabrooks, Edmonton Public Schools Trustee.

The changes are part of the Education Amendment Act. It was introduced last week, along with other legislation affecting transgender and gender-diverse Albertans.

The Education Minister says the opt-in policy needs to be done for parental engagement.

“Currently the model is very passive and if you didn’t see the form or didn’t sign it, your consent is considered approved. But we want to make sure parents are really actively involved. We want them to review the information, look at the different subjects that are going to be taught and get their consent,” said Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta’s Education Minister.

What the minister couldn’t say, is how many kids in the province are currently being opted out.

His staff directed CityNews to ask school boards, but both Edmonton Public and Catholic say they don’t know either.

“Wait, this government is proposing legislation although they have no idea what they’re talking about? Shocking,” said Naheed Nenshi, Alberta NDP Leader.

Alberta already has rising rates of gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV — with the latter two each increasing more than 25 per cent since 2020. 

The president of the Alberta Teachers Association believes the legislation will ultimately be bad for young people and their sexual health.

“School boards or teachers might just find that the paperwork is not worth the effort and they don’t instruct on key things that kids need to know,” said Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers Association President.

But the minister said Thursday he doesn’t expect the change to have a major effect on STI rates or teen pregnancies. Adding his government will not back down on Bill 27.

“I was just looking recently at Nevada that has an opt-in, over 90 per cent of parents send their forms in. So there’s no reason to think or suggest that a huge number of parents won’t enroll their kids in sex education,” said Demetrius Nicolaides, Alberta Education Minister.

Bill 27 passed the first reading on Halloween. With a UCP majority, it’s expected to fully pass before the fall session wraps up on December 5th, or sooner.