Texas State Profile Fiscal Year 2009
|
Sexuality Education Law and Policy | Recent Legislation | Youth Statistical Information of Note | Sexual Health Statistics | Comprehensive Approaches to Sex Education| Federal Funding of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs | Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Curricula Used by Grantees | Federal Funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in FY 09 | Adolescent Health Contact | Organizations that Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education | Organizations that Oppose Comprehensive Sexuality Education | Local Newspapers | Political Blogs | References
Texas Education Code states that all “course materials and instruction relating to human sexuality” must:
In addition, school districts may not distribute condoms and are allowed to “separate students according to sex for instructional purposes.”[2]
In 2009, using authority given to it by the state legislature, the Texas Board of Education voted to repeal the state’s existing health education requirement. Though the specifics of what may and may not be taught remain in the Texas Education Code, schools may now choose whether or not to offer health education courses.
Each school district must also have a local health advisory council established by the board of trustees.[3] The council must make recommendations to the school district about changes in that district’s curriculum and “appropriate grade levels and methods of instruction for human sexuality instruction.”[4] This council also must “assist the district in ensuring that local community values are reflected in the district’s health education instruction.”[5]
Parents or guardians may remove their children from any part of sexuality education instruction if it conflicts with their “religious or moral beliefs” by submitting a written request to the teacher.[6] This is referred to as an “opt-out” policy. See Texas Administrative Code §§ 74.1, 74.2, 74.3, and 74.41; Texas Education Code §§ 28.004 and 26.010; and Texas State Board of Education Administrative Code §§ 115.22 and 115.23.
Texas Education Works Act Introduced
House Bill 741 and Senate Bill 515, introduced in January 2009, would have mandated that all sexuality education in Texas be age-appropriate and medically accurate. In addition, such instruction would have included information on the health benefits, safety, and effectiveness of all methods of preventing STDs and pregnancy that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, as well as resources for STD testing and treatment. Under HB 741 and SB 515 sexuality education would have also encouraged parent-child communication about sexuality and addressed responsible decision-making. Both bills died in committee.
Legislation Prohibiting Federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding
House Bill 1371, introduced in February 2009, would have prohibited the Texas Health and Services Commission from applying for or accepting federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The bill was referred to the Committee on Public Health, where it died.
Legislation Requiring Sexuality Education to be Scientifically Accurate
House Bill 1567 and Senate Bill 1076, introduced in February 2009, would have required that sexuality education instruction in Texas stress abstinence, but also include scientifically accurate information on contraception and not discourage students from using contraceptives. Both bills died in committee.
Texas Prevention Works Act Introduced
House Bill 1694 and Senate Bill 1100, introduced in February 2009, would have required sexuality education instruction in Texas to be medically accurate. In addition, it would have required parents to be notified prior to the start of the course and the notification would have had to specify whether abstinence would be the primary focus and whether or not such instruction would include information on contraception. Both bills died in committee.
Texas’s Youth: Statistical Information of Note[7]
Dallas, Texas
Teen Pregnancy, Birth, and Abortion
HIV and AIDS
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
SIECUS has identified some examples of model programs, policies, and best practices being implemented in Texas public schools that provide a more comprehensive approach to sex education for young people.[22]
Comprehensive Sexuality Education Curricula
Some Texas school districts are transitioning from an abstinence-only-until-marriage approach to more comprehensive sex education programming in response to rising teen pregnancy rates. Austin Independent School District, Hays Consolidated Independent School District, and Lufkin Independent School District all adopted sex education curricula that teach about both abstinence and contraception for the 2009–2010 school year. In addition, school districts in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley are also using more comprehensive sex education programs. Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest school district, is also considering implementing a more comprehensive sex education curriculum beginning in the 2010–2011 school year.[23]
We encourage you to submit any updated or additional information on comprehensive approaches to sex education being implemented in Texas public schools for inclusion in future publications of the SIECUS State Profiles. Please visit SIECUS’ “Contact Us” webpage at www.siecus.org to share information. Select “state policy” as the subject heading.
The Department of State Health Services and community-based organizations in Texas received $10,225,188 in federal funds for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Fiscal Year 2009.[24]
Title V Abstinence-Only-Until Marriage Funding
Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) Funding
Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) Funding
Some abstinence-only-until-marriage grantees in Texas use commercially available curricula. These include, but are not limited to:
To read reviews of abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula commonly used by federal grantees please visit the “Curricula and Speaker Reviews” webpage of SIECUS’ Community Action Kit at www.communityactionkit.org.
Federal Funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in FY 2009[25]
Adolescent Health Contact[27]
Melanie Jamison
Texas Department of State Health Services 1100 West 49th Street Austin, TX 78756 Phone: (512) 458-7111
Newspapers in Texas[28]
[1] Tex. Ed. Code §§ 28.004(e)(1)–(5), <http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/pdf/ED.28.pdf>.
[2] Tex. Ed. Code §§ 28.004(f) and (g).
[3] Tex. Ed. Code §§ 28.004(a).
[4] Tex. Ed. Code §§ 28.004(c)(3).
[5] Tex. Ed. Code §§ 28.004(a).
[6] Tex. Ed. Code §§ 26.010(a).
[7] Danice K. Eaton, et. al., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009,” Surveillance Summaries, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 59, no. SS-5 (4 June 2010): 98–109, accessed 4 June 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf>. Note: Dallas also participated in the 2009 YRBS.
[8] U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, (Washington, DC: Guttmacher Institute, January 2010), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/USTPtrends.pdf>, Table 3.1.
[9] Ibid., Table 3.2.
[10] Joyce A. Martin, et. al, “Births: Final Data for 2006,” National Vital Statistics Reports, vol. 57, number 7 (Hyattsville, MD: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 January 2009), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_07.pdf>, Table B.
[11] U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity , Table 3.2.
[12] Martin, et. al, “Births: Final Data for 2006,” 4.
[13] U.S. Teenage Pregnancies, Births, and Abortions: National and State Trends and Trends by Race and Ethnicity, Table 3,5.
[14] “Cases of HIV Infection and AIDS in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2007,” HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, vol. 19, (Atlanta, GA:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 2009), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/reports/2007report/pdf/2007SurveillanceReport.pdf> , Table 18.
[15] Slide 6: “Estimated Numbers of HIV/AIDS Cases among Adolescents 13 to 19 Years of Age, 2007—34 States,” HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Adolescents and Young Adults (through 2007), (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 2009), accessed 25 March 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/slides/adolescents/index.htm>.
[16] Ibid.; “AIDS Case Rate per 100,000 Population, All Ages, 2007,” (Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=513&cat=11&sub=120&yr=62&typ=1&sort=a>.
[17] Ibid., Table 16.
[18] Slide 15: “Reported AIDS Cases among Adolescents 13 to 19 Years of Age, 2007—United States and Dependent Areas,” HIV/AIDS Surveillance in Adolescents and Young Adults (through 2007), (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, May 2009), accessed 25 March 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/resources/slides/adolescents/index.htm>.
[19] “Wonder Database: Selected STDs by Age, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender, 1996-2008 Results,” (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), 30 June 2009, accessed 5 March 2010, <http://wonder.cdc.gov/>; see also Table 10: “Chlamydia: Reported Cases and Rates Per 100,000 Population by Age Group and Sex: United States, 2004–2008,” Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2008, (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of STD Prevention, November 2009), accessed 5 March 2010, <http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats08/surv2008-Complete.pdf>, 95.
[20] Ibid; see also Table 20: “Gonorrhea—Reported Cases and Rates per 100,000 Population by Age Group and Sex: United States, 2004–2008,” Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2008,106.
[21] Ibid; see also Table 33: “Primary and Secondary Syphilis—Reported Cases and Rates per 100,000 Population by Age Group and Sex: United States, 2004–2008,” Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2008, 121.
[22] This is by no means a complete list of all comprehensive programming and policies related to sexuality education, but rather some examples of best practices and model programs that SIECUS identified.
[23] Brenda Bell, “Some Texas Districts Change Tune on Abstinence-Only Sex Ed,” Austin American-Statesman, 27 September 2009, accessed 4 October 2009, <http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/09/27/0927abstinence.html>.
[24] This refers to the federal government’s fiscal year, which begins on October 1st and ends on September 30th. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, Fiscal Year 2009 began on October 1, 2008 and ended on September 30, 2009.
[25] Through the Fiscal Year 2010 appropriations process, Congress eliminated all discretionary funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, including the entire CBAE program and the abstinence-only-until-marriage portion of AFLA. The grant years listed in the chart reflect the years for which funding was originally approved; however, the grants effectively ended in Fiscal Year 2009.
[26] Closed on June 30, 2009. See “El Paso Closing Information,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., accessed 4 May 2010, <http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/politics-policy-issues/el-paso-closing-information-30208.htm>.
[27] SIECUS has identified this person as a state-based contact for information on adolescent health and if applicable, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.
[28] This section is a list of major newspapers in your state with contact information for their newsrooms. This list is by no means exhaustive and does not contain the local level newspapers which are integral to getting your message out to your community. SIECUS strongly urges you to follow stories about the issues that concern you on the national, state, and local level by using an internet news alert service such as Google alerts, becoming an avid reader of your local papers, and establishing relationships with reporters who cover your issues. For more information on how to achieve your media goals visit the SIECUS Community Action Kit.
|





