NC school board OKs abstinence education grant

CORRECTION — Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misstated the North Carolina teen birth rate as being 34.9 percent. It is actually 34.9 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

A federal grant aims to trim teen birth rates in rural N.C. school districts by laying the groundwork for abstinence education early — but tweaks to curriculums will be minor.

A Title V Abstinence Education grant of about $800,000, which targets 19 high-risk districts to provide abstinence education in fourth to sixth grades, gained State Board of Education approval last week. The grant extends through 2014 due to the Affordable Care Act.

In 2012, North Carolina received more than $1.7 million in federal money for abstinence education programs — already one of the highest amounts in the nation.

The grant will fund basic puberty education classes already given to fourth- and fifth-graders, said Nakisha Floyd, abstinence education consultant for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, in an email.

The districts were chosen based on teen pregnancy rates, number of children in foster care and rate of free or reduced lunch eligibility, Floyd said.

But opponents of abstinence-only sex education say the grant is no cause for alarm — and though the grant’s name suggests a curriculum shift, not much will change.

“There’s some loopholes in that federal grant money that make it possible for the Department of Education to fund things that aren’t abstinence-only education,” said Elizabeth Finley, spokeswoman for the Durham-based Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of N.C., which advocates comprehensive sex education.

“It’s a really great case of money that could be used for really bad stuff being used for really good stuff.”

The money will also patch up gaps left by state budget cuts, she said, easing the impact on financially strapped rural districts.

“(The grant is) helping rural school districts to replace some of the state money they’ve lost for guidance counselors, school nurses and also some parent education programs,” she said.

The classes will pave the way for healthy choices, Floyd said — focusing on puberty education and decision-making skills rather than directly on sex. She said each district dictates its own curriculum while still meeting state standards.

Jeff Nash, spokesman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said CHCCS has never been an abstinence-only district, and will keep providing the most accurate information to meet state standards.

Finley said the abstinence-only approach fails to make a dent in teen birth rates and ramps up the risks for STDs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, North Carolina’s teen birth rate dropped from 2010 to 2011, hitting 34.9 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 — one of 13 states to see a decline.

“Our organization thinks that Title V Abstinence funding … shouldn’t exist,” she said.

“But North Carolina has done a really smart job finding ways to use that money that are really beneficial to students.”

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