Fort Worth ISD approves abstinence-based sex education curriculum after divided debate

The Fort Worth Independent School District will implement an abstinence-based sex education curriculum after about two hours of debate from proponents and opponents of the approach that emphasizes chastity to middle and high schoolers.

The Board of Education voted unanimously to purchase the Choosing the Best curriculum on Tuesday night after a recommendation put forward by the district’s Student Health Advisory Council, which analyzed various curriculums for months. Although the curriculum aligns with state law, which requires districts to encourage students to delay having sex until marriage, experts and studies favor comprehensive sex education that encompasses “safer sex practices including contraception and condoms as effective ways to reduce unintended pregnancy and STIs” alongside information about abstinence.

School board member Anne Darr said she does not favor an abstinence-only curriculum, as it “does not provide adequate information for kids,” but she voted in favor of it because of the advisory council’s recommendation and because it was the top pick from a group of 42 district health teachers. Darr also noted that when she was a middle school teacher, a student thought she was pregnant because her parents told her she would become pregnant if she kissed a boy while wearing a bathing suit.

Additionally, the district discovered in January 2023 that staff had not followed the legally-required process outlined in Texas state law for adopting a sex education curriculum when the previous curriculum, HealthSmart, had been chosen, Darr said.

“HealthSmart was not and still is not a viable option for sex education curriculum in Fort Worth ISD. My sincere apologies to the students who were in a Fort Worth ISD health education class during the 2022-2023 school year who did not have access to a sex education curriculum. You deserve better,” Darr said. “(Choosing the Best curriculum) is the only curriculum legally available for use in Fort Worth ISD.”

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The Choosing the Best curriculum will be used in the sixth-grade Moving to Wellness health course and the high school Health 1 course at a price tag of about $72,200, but it’s unclear how soon the curriculum will be implemented. It will replace HealthSmart, which drew criticism from parents for its inclusion of topics about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Choosing the Best’s sixth-grade curriculum encompasses six, 45-minute sessions with lessons on teen pregnancy and STD risks, staying clear of unhealthy relationships and emphasizing “the risks of sexual activity while also emphasizing the positive benefits of sexual delay,” according to the curriculum provider. The high school curriculum has eight, 45-minute lessons that focus on avoiding pregnancy and STDs through abstinence, overcoming pressures to be sexually active and learning about “the negative emotional effects of casual sex and how sexual delay provides freedom: freedom from physical and emotional risks and the freedom to pursue dreams and personal goals.”

Before the meeting, Fort Worth ISD students who are part of Arlington Heights High’s Student Voter Empowerment Club and members of organizations such as Students Engaged in Advancing Texas rallied across the street from the district’s administration building at ZBonz Dog Park with music and copies of books that were pulled off Fort Worth ISD library shelves at the beginning of the school year: “Flamer” by Mike Curato and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson. The books were removed for review after district officials said they contained inappropriate content.

Meanwhile, members of For Liberty & Justice, a ministry within the Mercy Culture Church, gathered in prayer in the parking lot while holding signs branded with a ministry logo that read: “We need education not indoctrination” and “Parents should have the final say.” The church with locations across Fort Worth, Dallas and Waco states online that its members believe in “biblical marriage” between one man and one woman, and its ministry advocates for “Godly” candidates in local government among other mobilization efforts.

The packed board room was a sea of posters with signs held by community members calling for the new abstinence curriculum juxtaposed against ones that declared “Sex education is a human right” and “Teach comprehensive sex ed.”

Public comment consisted of both those in favor and against the Choosing the Best curriculum with proponents and opponents placing blame on the other side for letting either leftist or religious agendas influence sex education. Some speakers advocated for no sexual education curriculum in the district at all.

Hudson Harris, an Arlington Heights junior who’s part of the school’s Student Voter Empowerment Club, said students like him are the ones who will be impacted by the board’s decision. He considered abstinence-centered sex education as a way for religion to be infused into public education.

“If these ideals force their way in through gateway policies such as this one, we will slowly start to see our school turn into a church,” he said. “Learning should have a secular focus, not a religious one.”

Reed Bilz, of the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County, said the organization supports comprehensive sex education that includes teaching about gender expression and sexuality with “specialized and periodic training workshops” for teachers.

“We support a coordinated, age-appropriate, comprehensive program of sex education that is specific and explicit in providing information on all methods of preventing unwanted pregnancy,” she said. “We support a program that teaches decision-making, self-esteem, responsible behavior, respect for others, resistance to peer pressure and stress management.”

In contrast, Kathryn Pompa, a Fort Worth ISD parent and School Health Advisory Committee member, urged the board to adopt the Choosing the Best curriculum after being among those who had reviewed and read various curriculum options in-depth.

“Not only does this curriculum align with the (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) and (Texas Education Code), it was overwhelmingly well received by parents according to all the public comments collected,” she said. “This is a great curriculum to educate all students and provide the healthiest information for making healthy and holistic decisions during this critical and awkward time in a child’s life.”

Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values, a statewide Christian organization with a mission “to preserve and advance a culture of family values in the state of Texas,” said the organization is unsupportive of the HealthSmart curriculum and is concerned about “LGBT and pro-abortion content as well as (diversity, equity and inclusion)” within the Choosing the Best curriculum and asked board members to consider removing such content before adopting it.

“It is a fact that the only 100% way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is abstinence and that’s a key reason why we support abstinence as an organization,” Saenz said.

Texas law vs. health studies and statistics

The Texas Education Code states that course material related to sex education must “direct adolescents to a standard of behavior in which abstinence from sexual activity before marriage is the most effective way to prevent pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).”

The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine’s Journal of Adolescent Health released a position paper in 2017 that acknowledged abstinence as a healthy choice for adolescents but noted that focusing on “abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) (is) problematic from scientific and ethical viewpoints.” The Journal states that these types of programs are ineffective in delaying this behavior as fewer adolescents are waiting until marriage to initiate sex.

“AOUM programs inherently provide incomplete information and are often neglectful to sexually active adolescents; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning adolescents; pregnant and parenting adolescents; and survivors of sexual assault,” according to the Journal. “Promotion of AOUM policies by the U.S. government has undermined sexuality education in the United States and in U.S. foreign aid programs to prevent HIV infection. In many U.S. communities, AOUM programs have replaced more comprehensive approaches to sexuality education.”

The U.S. federal government began supporting and promoting abstinence programs in the early 1980s and had spent more than $2 billion on these nationwide programs between 1982 and 2017, according to the Journal. Almost half of U.S. states had shifted away from accepting this federal funding by 2009.

The latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that quality sex education programs address the needs of all students, including those who are part of the LGBTQ community; connect students to health services at their school or in their community; and cultivate positive relationships between young people and “important adults.”

“Sexual health education should be consistent with scientific research and best practices; reflect the diversity of student experiences and identities; and align with school, family, and community priorities,” according to the CDC.

Tarrant County’s teen live birth rate, 19.6 per 1,000 females aged 15-19, was “significantly lower” compared to the state (22.7) and “significantly higher” compared to the nation (15.3) in 2020, according to Tarrant County Public Health. This rate represents a 52% decrease in the teen live birth rate from 2011 to 2020.

From 2011 to 2021, the rate of syphilis cases for every 100,000 Tarrant County residents increased from 6.7 to 57.4, according to the Department of State Health Services.