Texas law prevented schools from teaching their students sexual ed unless their parents specifically "opted in." But when that law expired on August 1, the state law essentially reversed: i.e., schools will abide by an "opt out" option – which means students will be taught sexual education automatically unless parents take an affirmative step and opt their children out of it.
Texas Scorecard reports that the rule swap would give each school district the authority to decide what, if any, human sexuality teaching will be offered to students.
Jonathan Covey, policy director for Texas Values, tells AFN that his team pushed on this and, in conjunction with the office of Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency (TEA), was able to get the law reversed on the same day it changed.
"… Texas Education Agency released updated guidance that said schools can still continue to operate under the opt-in infrastructure where they asked parents' permission before giving human sexuality instruction," he explains.
"So, this is a very good thing. And of course, leftist school districts like Austin ISD may not comply with this, and parents should still continue to look and see what infrastructure [or] system their school district is going to operate under," he adds.
According to Covey, Texas has had the opt-in option for the past few years, where students are out of sex-ed by default. He said his team has been working to make sure school districts can continue to operate under the "opt-in" option.
