Education (Curriculum)

SB 37 requires Texas public schools to provide age-appropriate, medically accurate fetal development instruction to students in grades 7 and 8 as part of the health curriculum. The bill mandates specific content, including the human reproductive process, pregnancy, infertility prevention, birth defect prevention (covering drug/alcohol effects and environmental hazards), and trimester-by-trimester fetal growth descriptions. It does not apply to other grade levels unless the State Board of Education adopts additional rules. The instruction must be integrated into the existing health curriculum framework under state education standards. This policy directly affects Texas public school districts and health educators in grades 7-8.