Comprehensive sexuality education not only includes lessons on health matters like preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but also covers issues like healthy relationships, body image, and self-esteem. In kindergarten, that looks like basic lessons about friendship and communication, providing kids with the building blocks they need to tackle issues like consent and sexual health years later in middle and high school. Without this vital education, students are missing out on the information and support they need to make the best decisions for themselves about their health, relationships, and futures.

New York is currently letting its young people down. Teens 15 to 19 make up more than half of new STI cases in New York. Nationally, more than two-thirds of teenagers who have been in a relationship report experiencing some form of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse. And LGBTQ students in New York are more than twice as likely as their heterosexual peers to report intimate partner violence.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Young people in New York State deserve comprehensive sexuality education, no matter the location of their school district.