Rep. Roy Responds to Open Letter

Letter below was written in response to "A Reader Says, Vote NO, Rep. Roy""

Sean:

Thank you for your note. I typically do not respond to form emails (particularly those not properly addressed to me). But since it was published in the Franklin Observer and does mention my name, I thought I would share the following with you.

As reported on February 26, 2024, House Speaker Ronald Mariano is in no rush to take up the bill you mentioned, so I do not expect to see it on the House floor any time soon.
In fact, three days before the Senate voted on the latest version of the bill creating new guidelines for teaching sexual health material in K-12 schools, Speaker Mariano signaled the measure is unlikely to get a vote in his chamber. Mariano said he would prefer not to take legislative action and instead rather let districts settle into the new framework that the Healey administration already implemented unilaterally.

"The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) recently adopted a new comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework, as the law requires with every educational subject area," Mariano said. "The updated adopted framework, which was developed by a team of professionals that included health experts, teachers, and school nurses, went through an extensive review process and received public input to ensure that it is inclusive, medically accurate, and age-appropriate. Given that it has been less than a year since BESE adopted the new guidelines, it is important that we give school districts adequate time to implement them, rather than rush to potentially amend or codify them into law."

I, too, would like to give time for the new frameworks to be implemented before taking any further action. Indeed, no further action may be necessary. And rest assured, I will take your comments into consideration should the matter come before me on the floor of the House.

I hope that you find this information helpful. Please let me know if you would like any additional information. 

Jeff Roy