A Wisconsin district attorney has indicated his intention to prosecute teachers who teach the state’s new sex education curriculum. The new sex education law, which was signed by Wisconsin’s governor in February 2010, requires schools that teach sex education to include material on birth control and sex education as part of a comprehensive curriculum. County District Attorney Scott Southworth has described the law as a “sick and shameful piece of legislation” that encourages sex among minors and forces school districts to “instruct children on sex-for-pleasure.” Mr. Southworth apparently intends to charge teachers of the new curriculum with contributing to the delinquency of children. The law permits parents to remove their children from sex education classes, and also allows schools not to offer sex education courses at all under certain circumstances. To read a Wisconsin State Journal article about this issue, please click here.

In Connecticut, school districts may, but are not required to, provide instruction on family life education (including, but not limited to, family planning, human sexuality, parenting, nutrition and the emotional, physical, psychological, hygienic, economic and social aspects of family life). Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-16c. Connecticut law provides that school districts may not require participation in such courses, and allows parents to exempt children from family life education by providing written notification to the board of education.