TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Some Florida school districts are rolling back a more comprehensive approach sex education advocate of abstinence-oriented classes, under pressure from government officials who have deemed certain instructions on contraception, anatomy and consent inappropriate for students.
Florida Department of Education officials, led by an appointee of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, have ordered some of the state’s largest school districts to scale back their curriculums on not only sexual activity but also contraceptives, human development, abuse and domestic violence, as first reported by the Orlando Sentinel.
This shift reflects a nationwide push in conservative states to what children can learn about themselves and their bodies. Advocates worry that young people are not being reliably taught about adolescence, safe sex or violence in relationships at a time when sexually transmitted diseases are on the rise on the rise and access to abortion is becoming increasingly limited.
Recent changes in state law now allow the Florida Department of Education to approve school districts’ curriculum on reproductive health and disease education if they use materials other than state-designated textbooks.
About a dozen school districts in Florida have been told by state authorities to limit their sex education plans, said Elissa Barr, a public health professor at the University of North Florida and president of the Florida Healthy Youth Alliance, which advises school districts on developing and implementing comprehensive sex education programs.
Barr says comprehensive sex education isn’t just about reducing teen pregnancies and protecting young people from HIV, at a time when Florida reports more HIV diagnoses than nearly any other state, according to a nonprofit health policy research organization. KFF.
“Sex education is prevention of sexual abuse. It’s prevention of dating violence. And it helps young people develop healthier relationships and delay sexual initiation,” Barr told The Associated Press. “We still have 1 in 4 teenagers at least once pregnant before the age of 20. So if we reduce contraceptive information and education, we are really doing young people a disservice. It is very damaging.”
Research has shown that comprehensive sex education increases the time teens wait before having sex for the first time, reduces teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and prevents sexual abuse.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education defended the state’s approach, emphasizing the importance of abstinence and recent changes in state law who require schools to teach that “reproductive roles” are “binary, stable, and unchanging.”
“Florida law requires schools to emphasize the benefits of abstinence as an expected norm and the consequences of teen pregnancy,” said Sydney Booker, the department’s communications director. “A state government should not emphasize or encourage sexual activity among children or minors and is therefore justified in emphasizing abstinence.”
In Broward County Public Schools, which includes Fort Lauderdale and is the nation’s sixth-largest school district, state officials told the district that depictions of reproductive anatomy and demonstrations of contraceptive use “should not be included in any grade level,” according to a staff memo shared with the AP.
Florida Department of Education officials also ordered the district to remove the words “abuse, consent and domestic violence” from a proposed lesson for first-graders and replace it with language deemed more age-appropriate, such as “talk to a trusted adult if they feel uncomfortable.”
Barr said concerns raised about the curriculum were “inconsistent” across districts and were communicated verbally, not via email.
A representative for Orange County Public Schools, which includes Orlando, said the district revised its education plans in response to “verbal feedback” from the department.
“FDOE strongly recommended that the district use the state-adopted language,” said district spokesman Michael Ollendorff.
Under Florida law, schools are not required to teach sex education. If they do offer classes, they must emphasize abstinence as the “expected norm.” Florida parents have the right to withdraw their students from that instruction, even though studies show the general public overwhelmingly supports schools that teach sex education.
“Take politics out of it, take religion out of it, and really focus on the science and what works for young people,” Barr said. “We have the answer, and that is comprehensive sex education.”
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Kate Payne is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues.