Sex Ed Grants Given Out - With A Catch But Schools Say They Will Continue To Focus On Abstinence And Will Discuss Alternatives

Eight school districts are splitting $42,500 in federal sex education grants that state Schools Superintendent Anne Fox has restricted to abstinence-only programs.

But educators in several of those districts say they plan no changes in their overall education programs on AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases because of the restriction that a federal official believes is unique nationally.

In seeking the grant money last fall, Fox broke with past applications that supported abstinence-based education programs for abstinence-only programs. That is a shift away from grant support for sex education that focuses on abstinence but includes discussion of alternatives such a birth control and condoms in recognition that a large bloc of students - possibly approaching half - have already had sexual contact.

In an abstinence-only program, students can be given information on alternatives only if they specifically ask.

“We are pleased that these districts were interested in using the money to support abstinence-only programs in their local districts,” Fox said.

She justified the policy change that parents are demanding a higher standard in sex education. Critics warned the new approach would be used by districts to justify abandoning sex education.

Receiving $5,500 grants were Moscow, Lewiston, Jerome, Minidoka and Kamiah. Coeur d’Alene got $2,450, Grangeville $5,100 and Kimberly $7,450.

But another $37,500 in grant money has not been disbursed because of what officials said were inconvenient deadlines that limited district applications. That money will be distributed during the 1997-1998 school year, Anne Williamson said.

The total available for the restricted grants is only a fraction of the nearly $1 million a year the state receives for AIDS education.

Williamson, a health education specialist in Fox’s department, resigned this week to take a similar job in the Department of Health and Welfare, where officials were critical of Fox’s shift.

Cameron Lewis in the department’s Division of Health said there is no research showing abstinence-only programs have any effect while there is research by the federal Centers for Disease Control and others showing abstinence-based programs are successful.

In Moscow, district nurse Lois Volkening said administrators and parents are solidly behind the abstinence-based approach of the past and local money will continue to finance it. The restricted federal funds pass through Fox’s department will be used to review how the district teaches health at the secondary level so the curricula can be better coordinated and to buy classroom materials.

Any purchases will meet the abstinence-only requirement, Volkening said.