H.R. 3527 — Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act of 2025

This section states the purpose of the Act to provide young people with evidence-informed, comprehensive sex education and sexual health services that are confidential, equitable, accessible, medically accurate, age- and developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and aligned with National Sex Education Standards; cover prevention, treatment, and care of pregnancy, STIs, and interpersonal violence; emphasize consent, gender identity, and expression; address historical inequities impacting communities of color; and redress disparities for underserved youth. The section also sets forth congressional findings on gaps in current sex education (e.g., only 36 states plus D.C. mandate it; 13 states lack requirements for evidence-informed content), historical oppression including eugenics and forced sterilization targeting marginalized groups, disproportionate STI and pregnancy rates among Black, Indigenous, and Latine youth, and the need for resources to achieve reproductive justice.

This section defines 20 terms for purposes of the Act, including “age and developmentally appropriate,” “consent,” “culturally responsive,” “evidence-informed,” “gender expression,” “gender identity,” “inclusive,” “institution of higher education” (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965), “interpersonal violence,” “local educational agency” and “State educational agency” (as defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965), “medically accurate and complete,” “resilience,” “Secretary” (i.e., Secretary of Health and Human Services), “sex education,” “sexual health services,” “sexual orientation,” “trauma,” “trauma-informed and resilience-oriented,” and “underserved young people.”

This section authorizes the Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of Education, to award competitive five-year grants to eligible entities (i.e., public or private entities delivering health education to young people) for projects providing sex education to young people. In awarding grants, the Secretary must give priority to state educational agencies or local educational agencies and to Indian tribes or tribal organizations (as defined in 25 U.S.C. 5304).

This section authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Secretary of Education, to award competitive five-year grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or consortia thereof to provide students with age- and developmentally appropriate sex education. In awarding grants, the Secretary must give priority to IHEs that (1) have an enrollment of needy students, as defined in section 318(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA); or (2) are Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal Colleges or Universities, Alaska Native-serving institutions, Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Predominantly Black Institutions, Native American-serving nontribal institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, or minority institutions with an enrollment of needy students, as defined in specified HEA sections. Grant recipients must use funds to develop and implement projects integrating such sex education by (1) incorporating it into student orientation, general education, or courses; (2) developing or adopting out-of-class educational programming; (3) developing or adopting technology-based delivery approaches; (4) developing or adopting peer-led activities; or (5) developing or adopting policies and practices linking students to sexual health services.

This section authorizes the Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of Education, to award competitive five-year grants to eligible entities for professional development and training of teachers, health educators, faculty, administrators, and staff to increase effective teaching of sex education to young people. Eligible entities include (1) state educational agencies or local educational agencies; (2) Indian Tribes or Tribal organizations; (3) state or local departments of health; (4) educational service agencies; (5) nonprofit institutions of higher education or consortia thereof; or (6) national or statewide nonprofit organizations or consortia primarily focused on improving sex education through training and teaching. Grant recipients must use funds for the required training activity and may use funds for permissible activities such as developing anti-racist and gender-inclusive training, disseminating research on sex education practices, convening conferences, or awarding subgrants to qualified nonprofits for educator training, distance learning, standards development, best practices replication, multilingual materials, or pedagogy courses at institutions of higher education.

This section authorizes the Secretary to award competitive 5-year grants to eligible entities to provide youth-friendly sexual health services to underserved young people. Eligible entities include public or private youth-serving organizations and 340B covered entities (i.e., safety-net health care providers such as certain hospitals and clinics eligible for discounted outpatient drugs under 42 U.S.C. 256b). Grant funds may be used to (1) develop and implement evidence-informed projects; (2) establish or modify staff positions, policies, locations, or schedules to increase access; (3) conduct outreach and solicit feedback; (4) create referral systems; (5) form partnerships for service linkages (e.g., on-site services or transportation); (6) provide comprehensive, confidential, age-appropriate sexual health information; (7) promote communication on sexual health; and (8) train personnel and community members.

This section establishes reporting and evaluation requirements for grants under sections 4, 5, 6, and 7. Specifically, it (1) requires each grantee to submit an annual report to the Secretary detailing use of grant funds, how such use increased young people's access to sex education or sexual health services, and other information required by the Secretary; (2) directs the Secretary to submit a report to Congress within one year of enactment and annually thereafter for five years, summarizing how grants meet the Act's purpose, the number of grantees and activities funded under sections 4-7, the aggregate and disaggregated number of young people served under sections 4, 5, and 7 (by race/ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other characteristics, without revealing personally identifiable information), the number of personnel trained under section 6, and the status of the evaluation under subsection (c); and (3) requires the Secretary to contract within six months of enactment with an independent nonprofit organization experienced in impact evaluations to conduct a multi-year evaluation using rigorous standards and methods, with a report due to Congress and the Secretary six years after enactment and publicly available on the Department of Health and Human Services website.

This section prohibits discrimination in activities funded under this Act on the basis of actual or perceived sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), age, parental status, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, disability, or religion. The section specifies that nothing in this Act limits rights, remedies, procedures, or legal standards available under other federal anti-discrimination laws—including section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), which prohibits disability discrimination in federally funded programs—or under state or local laws.

This section prohibits federal funds provided under this Act from being used for sex education or sexual health services that—(1) withhold health-promoting or life-saving information about sexuality-related topics, including HIV; (2) are medically inaccurate or incomplete; (3) promote gender or racial stereotypes or are unresponsive to gender or racial inequities; (4) fail to address the needs of sexually active young people; (5) fail to address the needs of pregnant or parenting young people; (6) fail to address the needs of survivors of interpersonal violence; (7) fail to address the needs of young people of all physical, developmental, or mental abilities; (8) fail to be inclusive of individuals with varying gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations; or (9) are inconsistent with the ethical imperatives of medicine and public health.

This section strikes from the prohibitions on uses of funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 three restrictions: (1) developing or distributing materials, or operating programs or courses of instruction directed at youth, designed to promote or encourage sexual activity (former para. (3)); (2) providing sex education or HIV-prevention education unless age appropriate and including the health benefits of abstinence (former para. (5)); and (3) operating a program of contraceptive distribution in schools (former para. (6)). It redesignates the prohibition on distributing legally obscene materials to minors on school grounds as new para. (3) (from former para. (4)) and the prohibition on providing dangerous weapons or related training as new para. (4) (from former para. (7)). (Thus, such funds may now be used for the specified sexual education and contraceptive activities previously barred.)

This section authorizes $100 million for each of FY2026 through 2031 to carry out the Act (amounts remain available until expended); reserves not more than 30% for grants for sex education at elementary and secondary schools and youth-serving organizations (sec. 4), not more than 10% for such grants at institutions of higher education (sec. 5), not more than 15% for educator training grants (sec. 6), and not more than 30% for sexual health services grants for underserved youth (sec. 7); reserves not less than 5% for reporting and impact evaluation (sec. 8) and not less than 10% for Department of Health and Human Services research, training, and technical assistance; transfers any unobligated balances from the abstinence-only-until-marriage program (42 U.S.C. 710, which provides formula grants to states and other entities for sexual risk avoidance education); and repeals that program.