From the ECS State Policy Database Curriculum--Excusal

This database is made possible by your state's fiscal support of the Education Commission of the States (ECS). Most entries are legislative, although rules/regulations and executive orders that make substantive changes are included. Every effort is made to collect the latest available version of policies; in some instances, recent changes might not be reflected. For expediency purposes minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) and format. Please cite use of the database as: Education Commission of the States (ECS) State Policy Database, retrieved [date]. State Status/Date Level Summary MI Signed into law 12/2012 P-12 Opt-Out from Instruction Regarding Child Sexual Abuse S.B. 1114 Permits a parent or guardian to review and/or excuse his/her child from receiving instruction on child sexual abuse. http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2011-2012/billengrossed/Senate/pdf/2012-SEBH-1114.pdf... More... NH Veto overridden: legislature has overridden governor's veto 01/2012 P-12 Parental Objections to Course Material H.B. 542 Requires school districts to adopt a policy allowing an exception to specific course material based on a parent's or legal guardian's determination that the material is objectionable. Requires such parent to notify the school principal or designee in writing o... More... NY Signed into law 08/2010 P-12 Student Rights re: Animal Dissection A.B. 3467 Requires local boards to develop a policy to give all students enrolled in a course that includes animal dissection reasonable notice of their rights to complete an alternative project approved by the student's teacher. Requires such notice to be distributed t... More... TX Signed into law 06/2007 Postsec. Foreign Student Course Exemptions S.B. 1051 Exempts foreign students enrolled in joint degree programs with Texas universities from the statutorily required 12 semester credit hours of Government/Political Science and Texas and American History, instead requiring such students to take a four-hour Americ... More... CA Signed into law 09/2004 P-12 Curriculum Excusal on Religious Grounds A.B. 2525 (multiple provisions) Provides that if any part of a school's instruction in health conflicts with the religious training and beliefs of a parent or guardian of a pupil, the pupil, upon the parent or guardian's written request, shall be excused from the part of the instruction that... More...