R-90: Ballot Measure for Students Needs Your Support!

Support Our Youth: Vote Yes On Referendum 90

When you vote next month, please pay special attention to Referendum 90. We need your vote to approve it!Referendum 90 gives students access to comprehensive sex education. Young people in every community deserve medically accurate and inclusive information that helps them make good decisions about sex to protect themselves and others. Referendum 90 will uphold the new Washington law requiring all public schools to teach age-appropriate, inclusive, comprehensive sex education.Here's an excerpt from that law, Senate Bill 5395. The law "would require public schools to provide comprehensive sexual health education to students in grades 6-12 beginning in the 2021-22 school year and for all public school students, including those in grades K-5, beginning in the 2022-23 school year. The curriculum would have to include instruction and information regarding affirmative consent and bystander training. Instruction would need to be provided at least once to students in grades K-3, once to students in grades 4-5, twice to students in grades 6-8, and twice to students in grades 9-12."R-90 will provide Washington students access to sex education that they may not have had. Comprehensive sex education will serve as a prevention tool for sexual assault and child sexual abuse.

Ref: 90 Teaches Consent, Prevention, Wise Choices

It teaches young people how to prevent sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies and provides kids experiencing abuse with tools and language they need to get help. It teaches affirmative consent, which ties into the prevention work that I do with middle school aged youth. For students K-3, comprehensive sex education will be age appropriate and focus on social and emotional learning to help them learn how to identify and regulate their emotions.In my work with youth at the middle school level, I see every day how vital this kind of information can be. It leads to the formation of healthy, safe relationships—with peers, with parents, and with other adults. Comprehensive sex education will help set foundational skills  our young people need to make good decisions to protect themselves and their futures.As an Advocate for Youth, I am supporting R-90 because I want all young people to have the skills they need to keep themselves safe from abuse, unhealthy relationships, and sexually transmitted infections. So please, when you vote, do NOT overlook Referendum 90—approve it for the sake of our children and their futures.Tanika SiscoeDomestic Violence Prevention SpecialistYWCA Clark County