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- SB 1133 proposes adding evidence-based preventive health education to school curricula.
- End Chronic Disease sponsored the bill and approached Sen. Tony Strickland last fall.
- The bill passed the Assembly and Senate unanimously and awaits Gov. Newsom’s signature.
A bill that would implement preventative health education in grades 1-12 awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature after passing unanimously in the Senate and Assembly.
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Senate Bill 1133, the Ready to Learn, Ready for Health Act, would require the Instructional Quality Commission to consider including “evidence-based preventative health instruction” in California public school curricula.
If the measure is signed into law, educational materials on nutrition, food literacy, sleep, exercise, stress management and screen use would be added to the Health Education Framework for California Public Schools in 2027. The framework is a guide intended to help educators deliver lessons about health-related topics to California public school students.
The proposed additions include information about how nutrition affects long-term disease risk, the relationship between exercise and mental health, how stress and sleep affect overall health, the effects of social media use and screen time, and how environmental factors like water and air quality affects health.
Kelly McKenna, the CEO and co-founder of End Chronic Disease, said the bill aims to “teach kids at a young age that what they do every day shapes their health.” End Chronic Disease, the bill’s sponsor, is a nonprofit that works to increase awareness of preventive health measures that can alleviate chronic illness.
“When I think about what is causing this epidemic of chronic disease in the country, I think it is as much an education problem as it is a health problem,” McKenna said. “Kids spend over 1,200 hours in school every year and they spend less than a few hours at the doctor’s office per year. If they’re not learning about health in school, where are they learning it?”
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According to McKenna, End Chronic Disease approached Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, last fall about legislation to implement preventive health education in schools. Strickland said he’s been playing team sports throughout his life and hopes children today do the same.
“We used to play outside until it was dark all the time,” Strickland said. “(Physical education) was a bit more stringent back then than it is now. Obesity among children is way up … and social media and stress management are intertwined.”
According to studies published by the National Institutes of Health, more than 30% of children have at least one chronic health condition — a statistic Strickland said is “unacceptable.”
“I’m working with End Chronic Disease to get that number down among school aged children,” Strickland said. “Hopefully we can get it down dramatically through education so we can have healthy kids with longer lives.”
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