AUSTIN – Representative Joaquin Castro and Senator Rodney Ellis will introduce HB 741, the Education Works bill that ensures Texas teens get comprehensive, medically accurate and age-appropriate information about sexual health.

A report released this week by the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund on sexual education in Texas public schools found that 94 percent of Texas schools teach  abstinence-only sexual education. Yet, Texas has the third highest teen birth rate in the nation, and the highest rate of a second birth to those same teens.  

According to a recent Scripps Howard poll, 90 percent of Texans favor "teaching public school students age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education."  The Education Works Act will provide a comprehensive sexual curriculum with medically accurate information that will teach students how to make healthy life choices.

WHO:   State Representative Joaquin Castro
             State Senator Rodney Ellis
             Karen Dulaney Smith, AISD Board of Trustees, PTA Board Member
             Dr. Diana Weihs, from the largest all-female OB/GYN practice in Central Texas

WHAT:           Press conference to announce the Education Works Act, a bill that
                       ensures teens have access to comprehensive education about sexual health.

WHERE:         Lieutenant Governor's Press Room, Room 2E9, Texas Capitol

WHEN:           Monday, March 2, 2009 at 11:00 a.m.

More information at EducationWorksTexas.org

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