How sex ed debate has kept Ohio from setting standards on teaching health

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Forty-nine states set standards on how to educate students on everything from childhood diabetes prevention and exercise to addressing bullies and avoiding tobacco.

Ohio does not. It stands alone, largely because of state lawmakers' trepidation about comprehensive sex education.

"There’s just so much dealing with health that is being ignored because we can’t seem to figure out how to talk to kids about sex," said Republican state Sen. Peggy Lehner, who leads the Senate Education Committee.

On the surface, Senate Bill 121 seems far from controversial.

The bill, introduced by the bipartisan duo of Democratic Sen. Vernon Sykes and GOP Sen. Stephanie Kunze, would allow the Ohio State Board of Education – a 19-member panel of elected and appointed officials – to set standards for health education without approval from state lawmakers.

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The one exception: Legislators would still have oversight over what Ohio law calls "venereal disease education." That phrase, as Sykes explains, was "the catchword for sex education years ago."

Under current law, the state board sets standards on what students should learn. Local schools pick a plan, or curriculum, to teach students those goals. The state board can set these standards without input from state lawmakers in every subject but one: health.

In pursuit of a healthier state

The new health standards could be as innocuous as "students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health" and "students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family and community health" – two recommendations from the National Health Education Standards. Some Ohio schools use those standards now in the absence of state guidance.

Guidelines could help counter the fact that Ohioans are less healthy and spend more on health care than people in most other states, according to a review from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. The state has more fatal overdoses, a higher infant mortality rate and a higher rate of adults with type 2 diabetes than the national average.

"We’re not a healthy state," Kunze said. "Our goal is to ensure that kids are getting how to live a healthy life and grow up to be a healthy adult."

A sex-ed snag

The proposed legislation doesn't set sex education standards nor does it require local school districts to adopt them. The bill also doesn't repeal current Ohio law that emphasizes the importance of abstinence until after marriage.

But some vocal opponents worry that anything short of condemning “radical, pro-abortion comprehensive sex education” will lead to rampant, early sexual activity among Ohio's children.

"Comprehensive sex education programs are child sexual rights-based curriculum and lessons that are explicitly erotic and graphic in nature with a disturbing focus on sexual pleasure for children," testified Kathy Boff of Protect Ohio Children, which fights against obscenity in classrooms.

“Numerous Ohio schools already bypass an abstinence emphasis in favor of medically high risk and sometimes obscene (comprehensive sex education) teaching that sends kids to Planned Parenthood as a 'valid health resource,'" Linda Harvey of Mission America, a Christian right organization, told a panel of lawmakers.

Those arguments hold sway among "pro-life" lawmakers.

Sykes has a few ideas on how to clear up the sex education debate. He and Kunze could amend the bill to expressly state that lawmakers must approve any changes to "sex education" – rather than the current term of "venereal disease education."

Who should set the standards?

Other legislators are wary of giving more control to the state board of education, which adopted policies like the much-debated Common Core.

"I don't understand why your bill has to eliminate the General Assembly's role in this process," Republican Sen. Bill Coley told the bill's sponsors during a recent committee hearing. He would prefer the board create health education standards by a certain deadline for lawmakers' review rather than taking away legislators' authority.

Others argue that state board members, many of whom have backgrounds in education or school leadership, are better equipped than lawmakers to set these standards.

"I don’t think legislators are in a position to develop education standards," Lehner said. "They are out of their wheelhouse."

Sykes said he feels confident that the state board of education wouldn't propose a liberal interpretation of sex education anyway. The board, though officially nonpartisan, is comprised of more Republicans and those appointed by GOP governors than Democrats right now.

The bill has a long journey ahead. It would need approval from lawmakers in the Ohio Senate and House as well as Gov. Mike DeWine to become law. Sykes, who has introduced similar legislation in the past, said he's not surprised by the bumps in the road so far.

"I’m just disappointed that we’re still having this opposition," he said. "There’s so much of a need to enhance health education courses in the state of Ohio.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Sex ed debate has kept Ohio from setting standards on teaching health