This week, the Ohio General Assembly poured some cold water on a hot and heavy sex-education struggle. Responding to public protests, lawmakers promised to shed sunlight on a shadowy push for radical sex education in Ohio schools.
An amendment passed by the House and Senate requires a legislative study of any mandated curriculum changes proposed by the Ohio Department of Education (ODOE) regarding health, and related training for sex educators.
It requires legislative hearings next spring on the proposed competency-based Model for Health and Physical Education, which includes expanded sex education for K-12 students. The hearings also will examine simultaneous training in federal sex education curriculums written by the Centers for Disease Control and sponsored by ODOE, with tax money.
Last month, Gov. George Voinovich asked the state superintendent and board for a "thorough review." Our own editorial called for full public disclosure, and many citizens protested shockingly inappropriate elements of the training plan.
Another bill passed by Ohio this week requires schools teaching about venereal disease to emphasize sexual abstinence until marriage, rather than focusing only on
so-called "safe sex" with condoms. If signed into law by the governor, it will require more information about the physical, psychological, emotional and social consequences of sexual activity.
"At the very least, we need to understand why tax dollars are used, under sponsorship of our Department of Education, for training that's offensive to many Ohioans." said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, sponsor of the oversight bill.
Proposed sex-ed content directly and covertly undermines many families' values. And Mr. Jordan, like many others, is offended at "the way it's being done out of public sight." Training that is designed to show sex educators "how to get around citizens who object on moral grounds, and use their tax money to teach how to deceive or lie to them, is intolerable," he said.
It's nearly impossible for citizens to get the information to credibly challenge the DOE's sophisticated subversion of the public will. Fortunately, our elected representatives are intervening to keep a leash on highly questionable policy by state agencies. Sex education that goes too fast, too far and teaches the wrong moral messages reflects the arrogant "we know best" attitude that is driving families out of public schools.
The General Assembly stopped state-mandated sex education in the 1980s. DOE and the state board didn't get the message.
If DOE has nothing to hide, it should welcome open hearings and debate. The discussion is certainly welcome to parents, who have every right and responsibility to make sure sex education is done right.
