Backing off from Abstinence-Only !
Wednesday May 10 2006 6:57
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - An effort to require Kansas public schools to have abstinence-only sex education courses appears to have stalled.
Conservative Republicans on the Kansas Board of Education who'd been receptive to the idea were backing away from it Tuesday. Instead, board members plan to consider recommending that courses stress "abstinence until marriage'' but include information about birth control and sexually transmitted diseases.
A proposed mandate to threaten schools with the loss of state accreditation if they didn't comply came from board member Kathy Martin of Clay Center.
Martin, part of the board's 6-4 conservative Republican majority, has said the state should tell young people they're expected to avoid premarital sex and that it's best for their health.
But asked Tuesday whether she still is pursuing an abstinence-only mandate, she said, "I'm not sure.''
One issue is the lengthy process required before the board can enact a new regulation. It requires public hearings, scrutiny from the attorney general's office and a review by legislators.
The process could take nine months, by which time the board's composition may have changed because of elections this year.
A regulation also could face resistance from local Kansas school boards, who've traditionally made decisions about what's actually taught in classrooms.
"I believe this is a local decision and should be made at the local level,'' said board member Janet Waugh, a Kansas City Democrat. "I have faith in local boards.''
Supporters of so-called comprehensive sex education were heartened that conservative board members backed away from a mandate.
"I'm just relieved that we're still talking, and that it's still a conversation that's on the table,'' said Debra Rukes, director of the Topeka YWCA's teenage pregnancy prevention program.
But if the board is still talking about sex education, it's also still split over what even a policy statement should say.
For example, Martin objects to a policy recommending "comprehensive'' sex education, worrying that detailed discussions about birth control can promote sexual activity.
Rukes said: "That 'comprehensive' word scares people because they think it's standing up, handing out condoms, and that isn't what it is. It's about providing complete, medically accurate information.''
For almost two decades, the board required comprehensive sex education classes, but as it revised rules for accrediting schools, it allowed the regulation to lapse. A rule adopted last year requires instruction about human sexuality but doesn't specify what that should include.
In March, the board told the state's 300 school districts they must receive parents' written permission before teaching their children sex education. Most districts had assumed a child would participate unless a parent objected in writing.
Only a few other states, including Arizona, Nevada and Utah, have such "opt-in'' requirements on sex education, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which promotes sex education.
