[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 127 (Friday, August 3, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1739-E1740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SUPPORTING TITLE V ABSTINENCE EDUCATION PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ROBIN HAYES

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 3, 2007

  Mr. HAYES. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Title V 
Abstinence Education program. This program provides the abstinence 
message to teens, as directed by State law.
  State law requires that North Carolina schools include in their 
health education program a message aimed toward prevention of sexually 
transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and ``abstinence until 
marriage education.'' Schools must stress the importance of parental 
involvement and abstinence from sex until marriage in disease 
prevention, as well as teach students refusal skills and strategies to 
handle peer pressure. Curricula must teach that a mutually faithful 
monogamous heterosexual relationship in the context of marriage

[[Page E1740]]

is the best lifelong means of avoiding diseases transmitted by sexual 
contact.
  In fiscal year 2006, North Carolina received $1,248,963 in Federal 
title V funding. North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction 
receives the title V funds and uses teachers' salaries as in-kind 
contributions to meet the required Federal match. The Department of 
Public Instruction keeps 10 percent of the funds for administration; 
the remaining funds are given to 101 school districts and 14 charter 
schools throughout the State. In order to be eligible, schools must 
have at least one class of 7th through 12th graders, and schools must 
comply with the Federal A-H criteria for abstinence education. Funding 
is distributed based on the number of grades and students each school 
has; schools receive $333 per grade and $1.31 per student in grades 7 
through 12. Schools are free to use the money at their discretion as 
long as they do not violate the Federal Government's eight-point 
definition of ``abstinence education.'' Staff at the North Carolina 
Department of Public Instruction visit school sites on an as-needed 
basis for general monitoring.
  The people of North Carolina have made the choice to provide an 
abstinence message to their teens, and title V funds help them achieve 
this goal. I urge my colleagues to support reauthorization of title V 
and to oppose any provisions that could undermine the choice made by 
parents in North Carolina to support abstinence education.