The Austin school district found itself in a conundrum. It needed a modern sexual education curriculum and found one by a Canadian public health care provider. The problem was the Canadian system offers abortions, and Texas law bars public agencies from paying or supporting groups that do.

So school district officials just took what they needed. No money — and initially no permission — was proffered.

Now critics of the curriculum are crying foul, and at least one state lawmaker has vowed to bring the matter up in the next session of the Texas Legislature.

The district says it gave the Canadian group no taxpayer resources. So district administrators say they are on the right side of the law.

But state Sen. Donna Campbell said she will work to see that "conscientious, pro-life taxpayers" can trust that the state will not use their tax dollars to "promote abortion providers in any way."

"The fact that there is not direct monetary compensation to the abortion provider is clearly a loophole the administration of the AISD has taken pains to pursue," Campbell said.

Trustees first approved the sex education standards that would be taught to students in grades three through eight in February 2019. But the district had to scrap its middle school curriculum, developed by the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, after the Texas Legislature passed a law prohibiting local governments from doing business with abortion providers or their affiliates.

The law bars the "sale, purchase, lease, donation of money, goods, services, or real property, or any other transaction between a governmental entity and a private entity that provides to the private entity something of value derived from state or local tax revenue, regardless of whether the governmental entity receives something of value in return."

Administrators then took resources from the publicly-funded Alberta Health Services for some of its elementary and middle school lesson plans. The new sex education curriculum was unanimously approved by the school board on Oct. 28. More than 100 parents and community members commented on the proposal; nearly 70% objected to the changes. Many in opposition were concerned that the district proposed teaching elementary students about sexual orientation, gender identity and sexually transmitted diseases.

Texas Values, a conservative group of parents and community members, has repeatedly berated the district for its use of the Canadian material. Most recently, Texas Values has lambasted the district for using the sex education resources from Alberta Health Services without permission — something the Canadian agency apparently didn’t learn of until they were contacted by the American-Statesman.

Copyrighted materials

Using the Texas Public Information Act, the Statesman obtained emails between Alberta Health Services representative Jocelyn Grahamand the district’s Professional Resource Librarian Stella Bromley from October, the month the school board approved the curriculum.

On Oct. 2, Bromley first emailed Graham about including Alberta Health Services’ educational resources in Austin’s sixth grade curriculum. Graham responded that any changes to the group’s copyrighted lessons would have to be approved. Also, she said, Austin school district officials would have to sign an agreement.

Bromley later shared with Graham three modifications the district wished to make, as well as additional lessons the district wanted to use. Among the changes, Austin officials wanted to obscure diagrams showing pubic hair and female breasts.

However, Graham emailed Bromley back on Nov. 7 — less than two weeks after the school board vote — to say the agency objected to those changes. "Our goal in showing all body parts in the images is to reduce the stigma and shame when talking about sexual health," Graham said.

Austin had used the modified pictures for weeks in a third-grade lesson plan posted online, although the district has since removed all illustrations of puberty changes from those plans.

When the Statesman asked Alberta Health Services in early January if the district had permission to use the materials, agency officials said the district had not responded to their concerns about the modifications.

On Jan. 8, Graham emailed Bromley to say the agency was contacted by a reporter about the school district’s use of their materials. Graham said she was surprised to see their resources being used without notice or permission and said it was "disappointing" that the district would do so.

"We do not charge any fees for the use of our materials, we simply ask that we be provided a copy of modified materials so that we can confirm that their intent has not been altered or confused," Graham wrote.

For the school district to use Alberta Health Services materials in the lesson plans, Graham said, Austin officials must complete an agreement and provide a copy of the resources the district plans to use.

Bromley responded by asking Graham to send her phone number.

When the Statesman asked Austin officials for a copy of any agreement the district may have subsequently made with Alberta Health Services, the district issued a statement: "Austin ISD worked to resolve the concerns regarding copyright permissions to use of Alberta Health Services’ materials used in the Human Sexuality and Responsibility curriculum without the need for a written agreement."

Texas Values policy adviser Mary Elizabeth Castle said the group plans to organize a sit-out in May when teachers are scheduled to start teaching using the lesson plans.

"It’s like allowing a kid to cheat on a test," Castle said. "We are not surprised Canadian abortion provider Alberta Health Services and Austin ISD have engaged in collusion and created a back room deal, after the official school board vote on this radical sex education for elementary school children."

Policy and politics

Some parents don’t like the idea of the district finding a loophole in the law to use the Canadian provider.

"It’s disappointing," said Jennifer Kratky, an Austin school district parent and member of Stand Up for Children ATX coalition, a group that wants to stop what they say is LGBTQ indoctrination and radical sex education said. "It seems like it’s not the upstanding example we want to set up for our children. I don’t think circumventing the laws or making loopholes around the laws is setting a good example for our children."

However, some parents said that regardless of where the lesson plans come from, the lessons are valuable for students to learn.

Belynda Montgomery is a district parent and a member of the Informed Parents of Austin organization, a group that advocates for LGBTQ students and families, as well as research-based, comprehensive sex education. "I think the lessons are very important," Montgomery said. "I think everybody needs to know what the parts are. It’s informative and presented well. It’s timely for sixth and seventh graders."

Texas Freedom Network spokesman Dan Quinn said the bottom line is that Texas Values opposes anything but abstinence-based sex education.

"Frankly, it's appalling that they care more about playing politics with this than they do making sure students get the information they need to make healthy, responsible decisions about sexual health. That’s really what it comes down to," Quinn said.

Quinn said the school district took an important step in making sure students have fact-based information and skills they need to make healthy, responsible decisions. "Opponents of this are grasping for anything to stop that ... because they oppose sex education no matter what," Quinn said. "No matter where it comes from no matter who developed the curriculum, they oppose it — unless it's abstinence only."

Emmett Schelling, executive director of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, said talking about reproductive health along with the other lessons in the sex education curriculum, is important.

"Kids, no matter who they are, deserve to be told about their bodies and their health," Schelling said. "There should be information that is helpful for every single student, because every single student has a body. When you educate yourself, it takes some of the fear out of things."

Editors note: This story has been updated to clarify how images from Alberta Health Services were used in a third grade lesson plan.