Analysis Part 3 of 4: H.B. No. 1255 – Women’s Health, Family Planning, and Human Sexuality

Hello policy watchers,

Welcome to part 3 of our 4 part series analyzing the bills more in depth! We identified H.B. No. 1255 as one that is related to women health, family planning, and sex education. We personally feel that this bill is one that should be important to parents, educators, and most importantly women. However, it is currently stuck in the House Public Health Committee. Fortunately, there is an identical version of it in the Senate known as S.B. No. 585. S.B. No. 585 is authored by Senator Kirk Watson, former mayor of Austin. Watson is a Democrat and he currently represents District 14. After he introduced the bill, it was referred to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. There has been a public hearing scheduled for April 28^th. During the public hearing, subcommittee will hold a meeting that will allow people an opportunity to provide public testimonies and to address any measure of the bill.

Before that public hearing, let’s discuss a couple of advantages and disadvantages of the H.B. No. 1255/S.B. No. 585.

Pro: As noted in Cheat Sheet Part I, the bill could potentially help expand women’s access to preventive health and family planning services through the demonstration project.

Con: In order to create a 7 year demonstration project, we need funding. Due to the current state affairs, legislators may be turned off by the high start up cost for this bill and vote against the bill.

Pro: The bill gives schools a chance to choose sex education programs that can help reduce unwanted pregnancies.

Con: By state law, abstinence has to be presented as the preferred method of contraception. Essentially, this bill does not replaced outdated programs with new ones; instead, it perpetuates the status quo.

At this point, you might be asking yourself, “So what does this all exactly mean? And what’s so bad about an abstinence-only sex education program? How can we strengthen this bill?”

Time to get into the nitty gritty details!! H.B. No. 1255/S.B. No. 585 essentially has two major components: women’s health program and sex education. In the Analysis Part 1 of 4: S.B. No. 575 – Women’s Health Program blog entry, the health and family planning component of H.B. No. 1255/S.B. No. 585 has been thoroughly covered. In that case, we’re going to focus more on the sex education component.

First, let’s take a look at the history and current status of sex education in Texas. In 1995, the 74^th Texas Legislature passed S. B. No. 1, which modified the Texas Education Code (TEC) to create statewide mandates for sex education, which can be read under the TEC Section 28.001. Essentially, the legislation decreed that the board of trustees of each school district has to create a local school health advisory council (SHAC). The main purpose behind the council is to make recommendations to the school district whilst ensuring that the local community values are being reflected in the health education instruction. The council has many duties, but we are interested in two in particular. The first one is that the council has to make recommendations on “appropriate grade levels and methods of instruction for human sexuality instruction” (TEC, 2011). The second duty is that the council has to advise the board of trustees in their selection of course materials and instruction related to human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, or HIV or AIDS. S.B. No. 1 set five constitutional requirements in regards to sex education curriculum. Four of which present abstinence from sexual activity and before marriage as the preferred choice, the emphasis of sex education curriculum, and as the most effective method from preventing pregnancy, STDs, HIV, and AIDS. In addition to the requirements, there are a few stipulations, such as schools are not allowed to distribute condoms. So, state law essentially requires any school district that provides sex education to emphasize abstinence. Also, if a school wants to change its sex education curriculum, they have to discuss it with their SHAC. If you are interested in learning more, then the nonprofit organization, the Texas Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy, created a Texas State Policy Overview of sex education that’s very helpful. Click here to access it.

So you now know the guidelines for sex education programs in Texas. However, are the guidelines working? We believe the answer lies within a report titled “Just Say Don’t Know: Sexuality Education in Texas Public Schools”. This report was a result of a partnership between the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund and two professors of heath education at Texas State University, David Wiley and Kelly Wilson. Dr. Wiley and Dr. Wilson conducted a two year research project; the project’s goal was to make “a comprehensive study of sexuality education in all of Texas’ public school districts”. The two researchers were able to attain information from over 96% of the Texas’ public school districts (990 districts). From the review and evaluation of their research, they gathered six key findings, which are presented in addition to recommendations in the Just Say Don’t Know: Sexuality Education in Texas Public Schools report. The key findings were:

1. Most Texas students receive no instruction about human sexuality apart from the promotion of sexual abstinence. (More than 94% of public school districts!)
   
2. Most school districts do not receive consistent or meaningful local input from their School Health Advisory Councils regarding sexuality education. (More than 80% of public school districts!)
3. Sexuality education materials used in Texas schools regularly contain factual errors and perpetuate lies and distortions about condoms and STDs.
4. Shaming and fear-based instruction are standard means of teaching students about sexuality.
5. Instruction on human sexuality in Texas often promotes stereotypes and biases based on gender and sexual orientation.
6. Some Texas classrooms mix religious instruction and Bible study into sexuality education programs.

What did Dr. Wiley and Dr. Wilson have to say after their extensive research? “Based on the documents provided by Texas school districts, it is the professional opinion of the authors of this report that our schools are failing Texas families by turning out generations of sexually illiterate young people at a time of high rates of teen pregnancy and STDs.”

After Team TK read the report, we felt a mix of emotions. Shock, indignation, disgust, worry, fear, but most importantly motivation. Team TK is motivated to spread the word. The sex education programs in Texas do not work! And we need to do something about it, fast.

I know some of you readers might be feeling a bit overwhelmed at all of the bad news about the failures of our sex education system. However, there is a silver lining. There has been increased attention to the importance of family planning services and more comprehensive sex education. This law asks for sex education programs to be based off evidence-based research. Maybe there is a chance for change. If anything, H.B. No. 1255/S.B. No. 585 can lay the groundwork for future laws and improvement. Stay optimistic readers, change is possible. Also, stay tuned for the last installment of our 4 part series!

Much love,

Team TK

P.S.

Throughout our analysis, we mentioned a lot of different articles and reports. In case anyone was curious where we got our information from, we compiled a short reference section. Hope y’all find this useful!

References:

Texas Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy (2010). Texas State Policy Overview. Retrieved April 23, 2011 from http://www.txcampaign.org/media/98UJHY765SQ/docs/en_US/e361e0cb53b4335dce796aeb47e4b88ae5e6f1f6/43H07C044HLO/Policy%20Overview%20REVISED.pdf

Texas Education Code, Chapter 28 Section 004 “Local School Health Advisory Council and Health Education”, April 28, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2011 from http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/SOTWDocs/ED/htm/ED.28.htm#28.004

Wiley, D. & Wilson, K (2009). Just Say Don’t Know: Sexuality Education in Texas Publich Schools. Austin, TX: Texas Freedom Network Education Fund. Retrieved April 23, 2011 from http://www.tfn.org/site/DocServer/SexEdRort09_web.pdf?docID=981

P.S.S.

For those who are really interested about sex education in Texas, then check out www.txcampaign.org/ The Texas Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy is dedicated to the prevention of teen pregnancy through the use of education. The website also has a lot of great information, such as Teen Pregnancy and STI Rates.