Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act of 2025
The Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act of 2025 would dramatically expand and reform federal support for sex education and sexual health services. It requires that programs funded with federal grants be comprehensive, evidence-informed, confidential, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and age- and developmentally appropriate, aligning with the National Sex Education Standards. The bill covers both K–12 settings and higher education, and it creates dedicated grant programs to deliver sex education, train educators, and provide youth-friendly sexual health services—especially for underserved young people. It also embeds a Reproductive Justice framework, addresses the legacy of racial and other inequities, and includes rigorous reporting and independent evaluation to track impact. A key funding and policy shift is the repeal of the Abstinence-Only Until Marriage program and the reallocation of its funds to support these new efforts. In short, the bill aims to ensure all young people have access to comprehensive, equitable, and youth-friendly sex education and health services, with a strong emphasis on addressing disparities faced by communities of color and other underserved groups, while evaluating effectiveness and reporting progress to Congress.
Key Points
- 1Comprehensive, evidence-informed sex education and sexual health services for young people (ages 10–29), including consent, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, contraception, pregnancy options, HIV/STIs, interpersonal violence, and healthy relationships; aligned with Future of Sex Ed National Standards.
- 2Four grant programs to be administered by the Secretary (in coordination with the Secretary of Education):
- 3- Section 4: Grants to K–12 schools and youth-serving organizations for sex education (5-year grants; priority to State/local educational agencies and Tribes).
- 4- Section 5: Grants to institutions of higher education or consortia to integrate age- and developmentally appropriate sex education (5-year grants; priority to certain demographic and minority-serving institutions).
- 5- Section 6: Grants for educator training to improve delivery of sex education (5-year grants; includes anti-racism and gender-inclusive training).
- 6- Section 7: Grants to deliver youth-friendly sexual health services to underserved young people (5-year grants; supports staffing, service delivery, referrals, partnerships, and culturally appropriate information).
- 7Strong emphasis on underserved populations and Reproductive Justice, with explicit attention to Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian American, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander communities, and other People of Color; recognition of historical harms and need for equity.
- 8Reporting and impact evaluation (Section 8): Annual grantee reports to the Secretary; annual, public Congress reports with disaggregated data (race/ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.); a multi-year, independent evaluation by a non-grantee, with findings to Congress and public release.
- 9Nondiscrimination and transparency (Section 9): Programs may not discriminate by sex, orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, race, disability, religion, etc.; existing civil rights protections remain applicable.
- 10Safeguards on funding and policy direction (Section 10): Federal funds must promote medically accurate, complete information; address needs of sexually active, pregnant/parenting, and violence-survivor youth; avoid harmful stereotypes; ensure inclusivity.
- 11Funding and reallocation (Section 12): Authorized $100 million per year for 2026–2031; funding split with specified caps for each grant program and a minimum reserve for evaluation; funds from the former Abstinence-Only Until Marriage program are repurposed, and the program is repealed.