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Waxahachie ISD committee weighs scaling back five-day 'Choosing the Best' sex-education program
Summary
A SHAC subcommittee reviewed declining opt-in rates for the district's 'Choosing the Best' human sexuality curriculum, discussed costs and lost instructional time, and is exploring a presenter-led one-day model as an alternative before recommending action to SHAC and the school board.
Ginger Robinson, chair of the logistics subcommittee, told the School Health Advisory Committee the group reviewed three options for instruction beyond TEKS requirements: stop offering any supplemental sex-education, switch to a presenter-led one-time format, or continue the current five-day 'Choosing the Best' curriculum.
Robinson said participation has fallen since Texas moved sex-education from opt-out to opt-in: sixth- and ninth-grade opt-in rates were particularly low, and the district now averages fewer than 350 students served per junior high across the three grade levels at a given year. "We are seeing a decline in students who are opting in," she said, adding that some parents tell staff their children already received the instruction and therefore opt out.
The committee flagged several operational problems with the five-day model: compressed delivery of an eight-lesson curriculum over five days can undermine fidelity, counselors who previously taught the lessons cannot cover all pulled-out sessions, and many discovery-class teachers who now deliver the material vary in comfort and skill. "That becomes an issue," Robinson said of turning instruction over to noncounselor teachers.
Committee members also reviewed costs. Robinson reported annual program spending between roughly $14,000 and $17,000 districtwide, noting student consumable booklets cost about $5 each and teacher editions require periodic replacement (about $500 each). The subcommittee estimated a presenter-driven model for selected grades could cost the district about $4,000 to $6,000 total, with approximately $2,000 per presentation day; presenters often include a parent-night presentation as part of that fee.
Members discussed alternatives such as delivering material at central campuses in a single presentation (busing opt-in students to one session), offering recorded materials to parents, or embedding content into required health courses (which the district does not currently offer). One committee member urged caution about eliminating supplemental instruction entirely: "We're going to have that one parent who says we didn't offer this as an option," a member said, while others emphasized that many parents already teach these topics at home.
No decision was reached. The subcommittee will gather vendor options and cost estimates, examine grade-level alignment (the committee is considering Grades 7, 9 and 12 for presentations), and bring a recommendation to SHAC in April or May; if SHAC approves, the committee will forward the recommendation to the Waxahachie ISD school board for final action.
