Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt wants to pay for a school sex-education initiative with public funds instead of using grants from a private foundation that donates to abortion- and contraception-rights groups.
The Nebraska Board of Education drew criticism in April for accepting a $75,000 grant from the Grove Foundation to train local school officials in how to start sex-education programs.
The foundation in Los Altos, California, is a major donor to Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Guttmacher Institute.
Board members today will consider Blomstedt’s recommendation to ask state lawmakers for about $55,000 in funding to continue the training and pay half the salary of a health specialist. The money is not appropriated in the current department budget.
“If there’s work that we need to be doing, I don’t like piecemealing things together to get them done,” Blomstedt said.
Blomstedt said he would rather have the department take financial responsibility for an important program and use grants only to supplement the work.
By avoiding grant money, the department won’t be dragged into politics or made to serve the whims of grant-making organizations, he said.
“I’d rather say ‘Hey, look, we clearly know the funding sources, and it’s clearly dictated by the policy of the board,’ ” he said.
The purpose of the initiative would not change — though, by taking over funding, the state would not be limited to using the WISE Initiative model that was tied to the grant, he said.
The WISE Initiative was launched in 2009 by four foundations: Grove, Ford, William and Flora Hewlett, and David and Lucile Packard. The purpose was to provide funding to develop comprehensive sex education programming in K-12 public schools across the country, according to a website for the initiative. The acronym stands for Working to Institutionalize Sexuality Education.
According to Nebraska Department of Education documents, the Grove Foundation money helped provide training, technical assistance and support for six schools that volunteered to participate.
Training sessions were conducted by the Nebraska Department of Education. Attendees were taught about best practices in school-based sexuality and prevention education.
Board member John Witzel said concerns raised about the initiative last spring centered on the foundation, not the program itself. Taking over the funding would ease those concerns, he said.
“We felt more comfortable if we took it all,” he said.
Witzel noted that under the program, the state doesn’t dictate a curriculum. Schools build their own curricula based on their needs, he said.
Board member Pat McPherson said local districts can pursue grants on their own. The state doesn’t need to get involved, he said.
“I’d rather not have it funded either way,” he said.
http://www.livewellnebraska.com/sex...cle_76891a4a-a6de-593c-82cf-eafe65abdf24.html
The Nebraska Board of Education drew criticism in April for accepting a $75,000 grant from the Grove Foundation to train local school officials in how to start sex-education programs.
The foundation in Los Altos, California, is a major donor to Planned Parenthood, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Guttmacher Institute.
Board members today will consider Blomstedt’s recommendation to ask state lawmakers for about $55,000 in funding to continue the training and pay half the salary of a health specialist. The money is not appropriated in the current department budget.
“If there’s work that we need to be doing, I don’t like piecemealing things together to get them done,” Blomstedt said.
Blomstedt said he would rather have the department take financial responsibility for an important program and use grants only to supplement the work.
By avoiding grant money, the department won’t be dragged into politics or made to serve the whims of grant-making organizations, he said.
“I’d rather say ‘Hey, look, we clearly know the funding sources, and it’s clearly dictated by the policy of the board,’ ” he said.
The purpose of the initiative would not change — though, by taking over funding, the state would not be limited to using the WISE Initiative model that was tied to the grant, he said.
The WISE Initiative was launched in 2009 by four foundations: Grove, Ford, William and Flora Hewlett, and David and Lucile Packard. The purpose was to provide funding to develop comprehensive sex education programming in K-12 public schools across the country, according to a website for the initiative. The acronym stands for Working to Institutionalize Sexuality Education.
According to Nebraska Department of Education documents, the Grove Foundation money helped provide training, technical assistance and support for six schools that volunteered to participate.
Training sessions were conducted by the Nebraska Department of Education. Attendees were taught about best practices in school-based sexuality and prevention education.
Board member John Witzel said concerns raised about the initiative last spring centered on the foundation, not the program itself. Taking over the funding would ease those concerns, he said.
“We felt more comfortable if we took it all,” he said.
Witzel noted that under the program, the state doesn’t dictate a curriculum. Schools build their own curricula based on their needs, he said.
Board member Pat McPherson said local districts can pursue grants on their own. The state doesn’t need to get involved, he said.
“I’d rather not have it funded either way,” he said.
http://www.livewellnebraska.com/sex...cle_76891a4a-a6de-593c-82cf-eafe65abdf24.html
