Abstinence Until Marriage? Coming to a School Board Near You.

On January 24, 2025, I attended the School Boards For Academic Excellence (SBAE) Summit in Orlando Florida, alongside 5 members of the Duval County School Board. David Hoyt, SBAE’s Executive Director, claimed that “one of the most pernicious vectors for undermining traditional family has been using sex ed.” Scott Phelps, a sponsor promoting an Abstinence Until Marriage curriculum called Success Sequence, went even further, declaring “I think that sex education is probably at the core of the rot of our educational system. That it is the tip of the spear… sex education is corrosive to the national soul.” 

On January 29, 2025, at a Policy Handbook Review Committee Meeting, those same Duval School Board members discussed revising their sex education policy – specifically, to emphasize abstinence.

Coincidence?

The SBAE Summit was held in conjunction with the Florida Conservative Coalition Of School Board Members (FCCSBM), which encourages Florida’s conservative school board members to “Be The School Board Member You Campaigned To Be.” According to their website, FCCSBM is affiliated with SBAE, as well as Turning Point USA, Leadership Institute, National School Boards Leadership Council and Success Sequence – the very same Abstinece Until Marriage curriculum aiming to replace sex education entirely.

SBAE is a right wing, anti-woke school board association whose main goal appears to be creation of a network of state education policy institutes, becoming a clearing house of conservative education policy that could be implemented at the local school board level. They describe themselves as a national capacity-building organization and it seems they want to become the ALEC of Education. (By the way, ALEC was in attendance.)

Last election, Governor DeSantis celebrated “flipping the board” in Duval to a supermajority of De-Santis aligned members – all of whom attended the SBAE Summit, at a cost to the district of over $7,000. Now those same board members are discussing changing how sex ed is taught in the district.

From “Abstinence Plus” to Just… Abstinence

Here’s what Duval’s current sex education policy states:

“The program will be abstinence based (Abstinence Plus) and will promote sexual abstinence as the expected standard for students. Information and education concerning risks, prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and contraceptives with the use of medically accurate materials, will be included.”

Here’s the proposed revision:

“The program will be abstinence based and will promote sexual abstinence as the expected standard for students. Instruction may include but is not limited to information and education concerning risks, prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and diseases, known modes of transmission, signs and symptoms, risk factors associated with acquired immune deficiency syndrome and means used to control the spread of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.”

Notice anything missing? Like, maybe, contraceptives and medically accurate materials?

Is Opt-In Better Than Opt-Out? Is It Even legal?

Sex Education is part of the Comprehensive Health Instruction required by state statute (f.s. 1003.42: Required Instruction). Current state law requires parents the ability to exempt (opt-out) their child from teaching of reproductive health or any disease, including HIV/AIDS, its symptoms, development, and treatment. District must notify parents of this right and the process to request the opt-out on the district’s website homepage. The home page must, also, include a link for a student’s parent to access and review the sex instructional materials (ironically making those materials readily available to any and all students).

Now, some Duval School Board members are reportedly floating the idea of requiring parents to opt-in to sex education—an entirely different approach. But would such a policy even be legal under current law? If sex ed is required instruction, should families also have to opt-in to reuired instruction in U.S. History?

(Spoiler alert: The SBAE Summit also encouraged pushing opt-in requirements for sex ed.)

Apparently, the possibility of requiring parents to opt-in to sex education classes has also been discussed by some Duval School Board members. Such a policy would require parents to “opt-in” to instruction required by the state. Is that even legal under current law? U.S. History is “Required Instruction,” it is also a graduation requirement – should families be required to “opt-in” to that?

ICYWW Support of requiring “opt-in” to sex education was ALSO encouraged at SBAE.

Same Playbook, Different County

In Florida, we’ve seen the pattern: Flip a school board to DeSantis-aligned, Moms for Liberty-approved members, and watch the chaos unfold. It looks like it’s Duval’s turn now.