(1) DEFINITIONS. (d) Sex education/AIDS education – a planned program that shall include instruction relating to the handling of peer pressure, promotion of high self-esteem, local community values, and abstinence from sexual activity as an effective method of preventing acquired immune deficiency syndrome and the only sure method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This instruction shall emphasize abstinence from sexual activity until marriage and fidelity in marriage as important personal goals. (2) REQUIREMENTS. (a) The local board of education shall develop and implement an accurate, comprehensive health and physical education program that shall include information and concepts in the following areas.

6. Sex education/AIDS education (e) Each local board of education shall develop procedures to allow parents and legal guardians to exercise the option of excluding their child from sex education and AIDS prevention instructional programs.
7. Sex education and AIDS education shall be a part of a comprehensive health program.
8. Sex education shall also include annual age-appropriate sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention education in kindergarten through grade 9.
9. Prior to the parent or legal guardian making a choice to allow his or her child or ward to take the specified unit of instruction, he or she shall be told what instruction is to be provided and have the opportunity to review all instructional materials to be used, print and nonprint. Any parent or legal guardian of a child to whom a course of study in sex education is to be taught shall have the right to elect, in writing, that such child not receive such course of study. (f) Each local board of education shall establish a committee to review periodically sex/AIDS education instructional materials and make recommendations concerning age/grade level use. Recommendations made by the committee shall be approved by the local board of education before implementation. The committee shall be composed primarily of nonteaching parents who have children enrolled in the local public schools and who represent the diversity of the student body augmented by others such as educators, health professionals and other community representatives. The committee shall also include a male and female student currently attending the 11th or 12th grade in the public schools.

(d) Sex education/AIDS education - a planned program that shall include instruction relating to the handling of peer pressure, promotion of high self-esteem, local community values, and abstinence from sexual activity as an effective method of preventing acquired immune deficiency syndrome and the only sure method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This instruction shall emphasize abstinence from sexual activity until marriage and fidelity in marriage as important personal goals.

• 1. Sex education and AIDS education shall be a part of a comprehensive health program.

The National and Georgia Standard for Health Education are designed to incorporate into a curricula the following six priority adolescent risk behaviors identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Alcohol and other Drug Use, Injury and Violence (including Suicide), Tobacco Use, Poor Nutrition, Inadequate Physical Activity, and Risky Sexual Behavior. The Standard also are designed to encompass a wide range of the following common content areas: Community Health, Consumer Health, Environmental Health, Family Life, Mental/Emotional Health, Injury Prevention/Safety, Nutrition, Personal Health, Prevention/Control of Disease, and Substance Use/Abuse.

(a) Each local board of education shall prescribe a course of study in sex education and AIDS prevention instruction for such grades and grade levels in the public-school system as shall be determined by the State Board of Education. Such course of study shall implement either the minimum course of study provided for in subsection (b) of this Code section or its equivalent, as approved by the State Board of Education. Each local board of education shall be authorized to supplement and develop the exact approach of content areas of such minimum course of study with such specific curriculum Standard as it may deem appropriate. Such Standard shall include instruction relating to the handling of peer pressure, the promotion of high self-esteem, local community values, the legal consequences of parenthood, and abstinence from sexual activity as an effective method of prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

(b) The State Board of Education shall prescribe a minimum course of study in sex education and AIDS prevention instruction which may be included as a part of a course of study in comprehensive health education for such grades and grade levels in the public school system as shall be determined by the state board and shall establish Standard for its administration. The course may include instruction concerning human biology, conception, pregnancy, birth, sexually transmitted diseases, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The course shall include instruction concerning the legal consequences of parenthood, including, without being limited to, the legal obligation of both parents to support a child and legal penalties or restrictions upon failure to support a child, including, without being limited to, the possible suspension or revocation of a parent's driver's license and occupational or professional licenses. The course shall also include annual age-appropriate sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention education in kindergarten through grade nine. A manual setting out the details of such course of study shall be prepared by or approved by the State School Superintendent in cooperation with the Department of Public Health, the State Board of Education, and such expert advisers as they may choose.