The state Senate this morning gave nearly unanimous support to a bill requiring that "family life curriculum" in public schools stays within certain boundaries. As with so many things this bunch does, the challenge was in discerning what the legislation's actual effect would be, aside from granting lawmakers the chance to put their opposition to teenage promiscuity on the record.
Opponents of the measure have cried "abstinence-only" since it first appeared, but the bill's sponsors have maintained that it simply clarifies the restrictions in current state code, and a representative from the state's Board of Education confirmed to a House subcommittee that it was consistent with current state law.
The bill does revise the requirement regarding which local education agencies must implement such a program. Currently, LEAs in counties that have a pregnancy rate over 19.5 percent per 1,000 females aged 15 to 17 must adopt a program for sex education, within state-set guidelines. Under the new legislation, a 19.5 percent pregnancy rate per 1,000 females 11 to 18 would trigger the requirement.
But the provisions causing the fuss have more to do with what the curriculum may or may not include. The bill requires that curriculum "exclusively and emphatically promote sexual risk avoidance through abstinence." The list of do-nots includes the promotion of "gateway sexual activity" and the distribution of materials that "condone, encourage or promote student sexual activity."
Programs are also prohibited from including "demonstrations with devices manufactured specifically for sexual stimulation" and from distributing contraception on school property, however the bill does state that "medically accurate information about contraception and condoms may be provided" given that it is "presented in a manner consistent" with the bill's other provisions.
