State Profiles

Current Requirements

• Nebraska has no regulation regarding medically accurate, age-appropriate, or evidence-based sex education instruction.
  • The Nebraska State Board of Education states that abstinence must be stressed if sex education is taught. Schools that neglect to follow this policy can have funding withheld. 
• If a school offers sex education, curriculum is not required to include instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, all curriculum must be equitable and not discriminate against students based on their sexual orientation or gender expression. 
• If a school offers sex education, curriculum is not required to include instruction on consent. 
• Schools must provide age-appropriate dating violence education for all students. 
• Nebraska has no standard regarding the ability of parents and guardians to remove their children from sex education instruction.

RECENT LEGISLATION SHAPING THE STATE LANDSCAPE

Advocates in Nebraska have faced significant efforts to limit access to sex education over the last several years. Signed into law on April 29, 2025, Legislative Bill 428 now requires school districts to provide guardians with access to various student educational materials, including textbooks, tests, and digital resources. It also outlines procedures for reviewing and approving these materials and details how parents can monitor instructional activities or request exemptions for their children from “objectionable” school experiences. Additionally, the legislation mandates that school districts notify parents at least thirty days in advance if a non-anonymous survey containing “sensitive information” is to be administered to students. The passage of this legislation represents continued conservative attacks to legislatively impede youth in Nebraska from accessing essential information on sexual orientation, gender identity, consent, and healthy relationships. In 2022, Legislative Bill 768 was introduced but not passed, and would have severely limited schools’ ability to teach sex education by prohibiting the State Board of Education from developing, approving, distributing, adopting, or promoting academic content standards for subjects other than reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies. This bill and similar others were ultimately unsuccessful but demonstrate Nebraska’s long history of anti-sex education legislation. 

Legislative Bill 213 was also introduced during the 2025 session, and would amend current state standards to require “human embryology” which would include instruction on fetal development  for students in K-12, as well as fetal development videos. Aligned with the larger trend of “Baby Olivia” bills, these videos are modeled after the“Meet Baby Olivia” video developed by Live Action – an extremist anti-abortion group known for their deceptive and manipulative tactics. These efforts will only increase misinformation about abortion and perpetuate abortion stigma in a state that is already a restrictive state for abortion access. 

In 2023, Legislative Bill 574 passed into law, which prohibits gender affirming care for minors,  and prohibits state funding from going towards any organization that provides gender affirming care for minors. The fight for comprehensive sex education is lies at the intersection with the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights and public education must be representative of and meet the needs of all students, including transgender and non-binary youth.

At the statewide level, in September 2019, the Nebraska Department of Education revised their Nondiscrimination and Equitable Educational Opportunities in Schools Position Statement to be inclusive of a multitude of identities, including sexual orientation and gender identity, race, ethnicity, disability, and economic status.  In summer 2020, the Nebraska Department of Education teamed up with educators to develop the first Nebraska Health Education Standards. Unfortunately, this process was indefinitely paused in September 2021 due to significant conservative attacks and pushback on the efforts despite a survey of Nebraska youth asserting just one in three LGBTQIA+ youth feel affirmed in their home. 

Sex education is not currently mandated in Nebraska and schools that choose to teach sex education must emphasize abstinence. Because Nebraska schools are not required to provide sex education to students, school districts are left to decide what type of sex education–if any at all–they provide to youth. The postponement of the Nebraska Health Education Standards allows districts to maintain local power to develop and adopt their own standards, a practice that is unfair to young people who go to school in districts with insufficient sex education requirements. Local control over sex education presents unique challenges that have resulted in a glaring disparity regarding the quality of sex education that students receive. Such discretion allows for the implementation of policies and curriculum that stigmatize marginalized youth, such as students of color and LGBTQIA+ youth, and presents further challenges in ensuring that low income districts have access to the resources needed to implement sex education.

Local advocates in Nebraska fought hard to advance an inclusive and comprehensive sex ed curriculum, especially during the redrafting of the Nebraska Health Education in 2021. During this time, many educators, students, and parents advocated for the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ identity, consent, and other and comprehensive sex ed topics, and cited the need for language and resources that make students feel accepted. Despite the indefinite pause in the redrafting process in September 2021, advocates have continued to push for inclusive instruction for all students. 

Right now, advocates can take action in their communities to address gaps in Nebraska’s sex education requirements. They can contact their local board of education and determine what topics are missing from existing sex education curricula. Advocates can then vocalize the importance of implementing elements of sex education for all Nebraska students, such as trauma-informed, culturally responsive curriculum that addresses the needs of youth of color and LGBTQIA+ youth, or medically accurate instruction on contraceptives, healthy relationships, and consent. Advocates are encouraged to take action on pending legislation that seeks to advance or restrict the principles of sex education.  Nebraska’s 2025-2026 legislative session convened January 8th, 2025 and is expected to adjourn on May 29th, 2026.

Further, advocates can contact their representatives to discuss the critical need for a statewide sex education mandate. Advocates are encouraged to use the Community Action Toolkit to guide local efforts to advance sex education. For more information on getting involved in local and state advocacy for sex education, reach out to our State Policy Action Manager, Miranda Estes (mestes@siecus.org)

More on sex ed in Nebraska…

State Law: A Closer Look

Nebraska Revised Statutes 79-712 does not require sex education, nor does it limit or prescribe what can be taught in such classes or recommend a specific curriculum. Revised Statute 79-2,142 requires that schools “shall incorporate dating violence education that is age-appropriate into the school program.” Instruction must include, but is not limited to, instruction on “defining dating violence, recognizing dating violence warning signs, and identifying characteristics of healthy dating relationships.” 

State Standards

In the Nebraska Health Education Frameworks, the Nebraska State Board of Education supports “an abstinence approach to risk behaviors associated with … sexual activity” and declares that all “state monies shall be dedicated to abstinence programs.”  The board also adopted specific abstinence-only guidelines to be used in any school unit involving family life or sex education. The guidelines include teaching that “abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children” and “a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity.” The guidelines also note that the best way to develop family life or sex education units is for parents, school boards, and teachers to work together with schools, districts, and communities “so all have a voice in the process and content.”

Nebraska state law does not require parental permission for students to participate in sex education or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) education, nor does it say whether parents or guardians may remove their children from such classes. However, the Board of Education does recommend that school districts “inform parents of intended activities and permit parents to have their children excluded from the activities.”

In September 2019, the Nebraska State Board of Education revised their Nondiscrimination and Equitable Educational Opportunities in Schools position statement,  detailing the Nebraska Department of Education’s commitment to educational equity to students regardless of “age, citizenship status, color, disability, economic status, ethnicity, family mobility, family structure, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, political affiliation, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, tribal membership, or veteran status.”

The Nebraska Department of Education engaged a group of educators (teachers, administrators, ESU staff, postsecondary representatives) in developing Nebraska Health Education standards to create a framework for K-12 health education. A first draft was released in March 2021 with a second draft released in July 2021. However, the Nebraska Board of Education voted to indefinitely pause the process in September 2021. Currently, the Nebraska Department of Education references the National Health Education Standards on their website.

Youth Sexual Health Data

Young people are more than their health behaviors and outcomes. While data can be a powerful tool to demonstrate the sex education and sexual health care needs of young people, it is important to be mindful that these behaviors and outcomes are impacted by systemic inequities present in our society that affect an individual’s sexual health and well-being. In recent years, there has been an increase in legislative attacks on the implementation of CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) which tracks six categories of health risk behaviors including sexual health behaviors. To learn more about Nebraska’s 2023 YRBS results, click here.

Nebraska School Health Profiles Data 

In 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the 2022 School Health Profiles, which measure school health policies and practices and highlight which health topics were taught in schools across the country. Since the data were collected from self-administered questionnaires completed by schools’ principals and lead health education teachers, the CDC notes that one limitation of the School Health Profiles is bias toward the reporting of more positive policies and practices. In the School Health Profiles, the CDC identifies 22 sexual health education topics as critical for ensuring a young person’s sexual health. To view Nebraska’s results from the 2022 School Health Profiles Survey, visit CDC’s School Health Profiles Explorer tool.

Visit the CDC’s School Health Profiles for additional information on school health policies and practices.

The quality of sex education taught often reflects funding available for sex education programs. To learn more about federal funding streams, click here.