Texas leads nation in abstinence education funding

AUSTIN — Texas spent a nation-high $17 million last year for abstinence education programs that continue to stir debate about whether classes promoting virginity before marriage work in public schools.

Federal statistics in June showed that 52.9 percent of Texas students in ninth through 12th grades had sexual intercourse, compared with 47.8 nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that Texas youths are less likely to use condoms.

Public schools in Texas are not required to offer sex education, but those that do must make the lessons abstinence-focused. Instructions about condoms are couched in terms of how often they fail, according to state law.

Abstinence-only supporters say more comprehensive sex education sends a mixed message to teenagers that having sex at their age is fine, while opponents cite surveys that they say prove abstinence lessons are failing.

Regardless, a change in Texas policy does not appear likely, the Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday.

"The governor is comfortable with the current law and supports abstinence programs," said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry.

But the state lawmaker who co-authored the abstinence legislation in 1995 says the law was not meant to eliminate comprehensive sex education in schools. Democrat Garnet Coleman of Houston said he put up the bill at a time when he feared conservative state officials would abandon sex education completely.

"I think the interpretation has morphed into abstinence-only, which is not our policy," Coleman said. "If I could fix anything, it'd be to make the law more instructive to say, 'This is what you can teach'" about contraceptives.

The federal government has spent $1.1 billion on funding for abstinence programs since 1982, according to federal officials. Texas has spent more than other state — almost $117 million, including $32.4 million of its own money.

Twenty-two states have rejected money from federally funded abstinence education programs, opting instead for a more comprehensive approach to sex education.

In Texas, some school districts struggle with how much information they can give students in the classroom. Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe says the state gives school districts "flexibility" about how to teach sex education, but few appear to be doing so.

"It breaks my heart," Whitney Self, a health teacher at Chapa Middle School in Kyle, said about the uncertainty of how far the district can go when talking about contraception.

In some schools in California, teachers can demonstrate how to wear condoms by rolling them onto bananas. In Texas, schools are forbidden to hand out condoms or instruct proper use.

Abstinence supporters say it's the job of parents, not the schools, to determine how much their teenage children know about contraceptives.

"Can you imagine being a parent and having your child come home and tell you all the ways they learned in school that you can (have sex)?" said Republican state Rep. Rob Eissler, chairman of the House Public Education Committee.