| (a) Parenting and paternity awareness. (1) A school district and an open-enrollment charter school shall incorporate instruction in parenting awareness into any course meeting a requirement for a health education credit, using the materials approved by the State Board of Education for this purpose in accordance with Texas Education Code (TEC), §28.002(p). Implementation of this requirement shall comply with requirements that the board of trustees of each school district establish a local school health advisory council to assist the district in ensuring that local community values are reflected in the district's health education instruction as stated in TEC, §28.004. (2) A school district may add elements at its discretion but must include the following areas of instruction: (A) parenting skills and responsibilities, including child support; (B) relationship skills, including money management, communication, and marriage preparation; and (C) skills relating to the prevention of family violence, only if the school district's high schools do not have a family violence prevention program. (3) If the required high school health education credit is earned through a course taken prior to Grade 9, the materials and parenting awareness instruction must be incorporated into that course or, at the district's discretion, may be incorporated into another course available to all students in Grades 9-12. (4) At the discretion of the district, a teacher may modify the suggested sequence and pace of the program at any grade level. (5) A student under 14 years of age may not participate in a parenting and paternity awareness program without the permission of the student's parent or person standing in parental relation to the student. (6) A school district shall use the materials approved by the State Board of Education for this purpose beginning with the 2008-2009 school year. (b) Alcohol awareness. (1) A school district and an open-enrollment charter school shall incorporate instruction in the dangers, causes, consequences, signs, symptoms, and treatment of binge drinking and alcohol poisoning into any course meeting a requirement for a health education credit in accordance with TEC, §28.002(r). (2) A school district shall choose an evidence-based alcohol awareness program to use in the district's middle school, junior high school, and high school health curriculum from a list of programs approved by the commissioner of education for this purpose. |
