New Jersey Rejects Federal Strings -- and Money -- Attached to Abstinence Education
The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy
By: Anne Farris, Roundtable Washington Correspondent
First published: October 31, 2006
New Jersey last week became the fourth state to reject federal money for sexual abstinence education programs.
Its action may prompt other states to do likewise as the federal government tightens the strings attached to its abstinence education grants, according to some observers.
"I suspect we’ll see other states following course," said William A. Smith, vice president for public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). "I’ve had serious discussions at high levels with at least six other states who are saying they want flexibility and the ability to craft the interventions they know will work best for their young individuals."
But Wade Horn, assistant secretary for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which administers the grants, said New Jersey’s departure from the program does not portend trouble.
"Most states accept the money and don’t have a problem with the guidelines. A vast majority find them reasonable and consistent with what they are doing," he said. "Overall, there were 47 states in 2006 that got the money. We anticipate 46 states will apply for the money in 2007."
New Jersey’s decision not to apply for about $800,000 in federal Title V abstinence education grants for fiscal year 2007 came after HHS issued a new program announcement. That notice emphasized state conformity with eight requirements of abstinence education program content and no promotion of contraception or condoms.
That prompted top health and education officials in the administration of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine to write a letter on Oct. 24 to HHS. The letter stated that the new emphasis on meeting the eight criteria contradicted the state's own sex education and AIDS education programs, and the state would not re-apply for the grants, which it has received since 1997.
"In past years, your department has provided us with the flexibility to run this program in a manner consistent with our state core curriculum content standards (CCCS)," the letter stated. "However, strict adherence to all of the elements of the Title V abstinence education program is not consistent with the Comprehensive Health and Physical education standards and the New Jersey’s AIDS Prevention Act of 1999."
Horn said the federal standards, dictated by law, were no more stringent than in previous years. His office was "providing clarifying language" when it issued this year’s program announcement, he said.
"Flexibility is inherent in the statutes, and we can work with states," Horn said. "If New Jersey had picked up the phone and called us, we could have worked with them. There is flexibility in how they implement the criteria."
New Jersey joins Maine, California and Connecticut in rejecting the funding, according to Horn. Pennsylvania also has declined to apply for the funding in past years, but received money in fiscal year 2006, Horn said.
The New Mexico Health Department decided to use its $500,000 federal abstinence education grant for teaching elementary school children only, because the grant money restricts teaching about contraception and disease prevention that state officials said older students should be taught. HHS has told the state it will lose federal funding if they limit the abstinence education program to grades six and below.
The federal funding is awarded to states through Section 510 of Title V of the Social Security Act, which was established in welfare reform legislation in 1996. The law provided for a mandatory annual appropriation of $50 million to states to carry out abstinence education programs for each fiscal year from 1998 to 2002. The first round of abstinence grants was awarded in November 1997, and annual funding after 2002 was continued at the same $50 million level. Grants to states are based on a statutory formula determined by the proportion of low-income children in a state relative to the total number of low-income children nationally.
In addition to the Title V grants, the federal government also awards abstinence education grants through the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program and the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA). Since George W. Bush became President in 2001, a total of almost $800 million federal dollars have been spent on abstinence-until-marriage programs, and the President is seeking an additional $204 million to fund such programs in fiscal year 2007.
In New Jersey, four organizations receive CBAE grants, including one organization that also receives a Title V grant. One organization receives AFLA grants in addition to a Title V grant.
States use Title V Abstinence Education grants to create or enhance sexual education programs that already exist. Title V legislation defines abstinence education with eight criteria marked A to H ranging from teaching abstinence education as the only certain way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, to teaching that sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.
The federal government became more explicit about adherence to the eight criteria after June 2004, when the Title V program was reassigned from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau to the Administration for Children and Families’ Family and Youth Services Bureau.
"My responsibility is to implement programs consistent with the statutes. That’s what we think we have done," Horn said. "The program announcement is consistent with the statute. So if they have a problem with the program announcement, they have a problem with the statute. The only way to change the announcement is to change the statute."
The New Jersey Adolescent Abstinence Education Project currently funds nine community-based agencies, including faith-based organizations, that target both male and female youths age 10-14 years old that live in high-risk areas of the state, according to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. The agencies present programs as a supplement to the sexual education curriculum in the public schools.
In the past, New Jersey had adhered to three of the eight definitions. The state adhered to section C, which teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; section G, which teaches young people how to reject sexual advances; and section H, which teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.
But its curriculum contradicts the remaining sections because it specifies that middle and high school instruction address contraceptive methods. State officials also said the function of state government is not to create standards for sexual activity, as detailed in federal sections that require teaching that a monogamous marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity, or that sex outside of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects.
New Jersey received $914,495 in Title V abstinence-until-marriage funding in fiscal year 2005. The Title V abstinence-until-marriage grant requires states to provide three state-raised dollars or the equivalent in services for every four federal dollars received. The state match may be provided in part or in full by local groups. New Jersey contributes $31,987 towards the matching fund; the remainder of the match is provided by sub-grantees.
Advocates for comprehensive sex education called the federal guidelines "onerous and overly restrictive" and praised New Jersey’s decision to reject the funding.
"The mandates that come with the federal funding are simply not right for New Jersey. We refuse to leave our young people in the dark about their sexual health," said C. Danene Sorace, director of Answer, a Rutgers University-based organization supporting comprehensive adolescent sexuality education.
"We are pleased that New Jersey has put the health and well-being of our teenagers first," said Deborah Jacobs, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which urged the Governor's office to reject the abstinence-only funding. "We need to put resources into programs that work, include medically accurate information, and protect teens from discrimination."
But others, including grant recipients, said the state’s decision to reject federal money was damaging to sexual education.
"I think it’s a horrible decision. We believe those kids who are choosing abstinence as a lifestyle need to be supported," said Len Deo, president of the New Jersey Family Policy Council. "These providers getting the money were doing a great job. The governor has put a political agenda ahead of what’s best for teens. It’s setting a trend for those administrations and governors who tend to be more in line with comprehensive sex education, but it’s not supporting the teens who choose abstinence."
Free Teens Inc. of New Jersey will lose $115,000 as of July 1, 2007 as a result of the state’s decision to stop accepting Title V grants. That represents almost a quarter of the group’s annual budget.
"It’s very disturbing that the government wasn’t willing to find a way to keep the source of funding for this type of education," said Richard Panzer, Free Teens’ executive director. "I know that the federal government wants as many states involved as possible and would have worked with New Jersey to reach a compromise."
The program has a "huge demand" with a one-year waiting list for its program in 40 New Jersey schools, Panzer said. It is now making an effort to diversity its income and rely less on government.
"I wish the governor had talked to the students and principals to see how effective it is before removing it," Panzer said.
Horn said it was not too late for New Jersey to reconsider its decision and request the funding.
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