Sex education curricula in the State of Washington prohibits discussion of contraception

According to a survey commissioned by Healthy Youth Alliance (HYA), approximately a third of public schools in the State of Washington have sex education curricula that prohibit teachers from discussing condoms or any other form of contraception except abstinence. HYA is a coalition working to reduce pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among teens. Two hundred of the state’s 286 school districts responded to HYA’s survey. Even though the survey found that all the districts reported teaching sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention from grades five to 12, the content of the courses varies widely and not every subject is taught every year. The study also found districts with the most outdated teaching materials reported teaching sex education the most often at each grade level. Almost all the districts reported being familiar with new voluntary sex education guidelines adopted by Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in January 2005, while two-thirds of those districts said they changed their curricula to meet the new guidelines. The new state guidelines outline medically and scientifically accurate sex education. According to state representative Shay Schual-Berke, who has introduced a bill in the state legislature that would make medically accurate sex education mandatory in the state’s public schools, research has shown that students are sexually active, but they don't use condoms because they think they do not work. "We are arming them with bad information that's leading them to make bad decisions," she says. "That's what needs to change, and that's why we're proposing the bill." The HYA study reported that 70% of the districts surveyed say they stress abstinence in their curricula but also include information about birth control and condom use to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, while 20% teach abstinence as the only way to prevent pregnancy or stop the spread of disease. Some districts specifically ban certain topics from their sex education classrooms. Teachers in 30% of the districts surveyed are not allowed to discuss condoms or contraception, while 28% are banned from discussing abortion, and 23% are not allowed to talk about homosexuality.

Oregonian
By Donna Gordon Blankinship
[Full story]

[Editor’s Note: The 2005 voluntary state guidelines are below.]
[Washington state guidelines on Sexual Health Information and Disease Prevention]