Georgia schools must provide sex education courses beginning in the first grade and AIDS education beginning in the sixth grade, the state Board of Education decided Thursday. The board approved the Quality Core Curriculum, a revision that will bring the schools into compliance with a 1988 law making sex education mandatory. It currently is left to school districts' discretion. The law stipulates courses must stress abstinence, although the QCC language gives school systems the option of teaching methods of contraception in grades nine through 12. AIDS education will begin in the sixth grade with instruction on communicable diseases. The instruction is to emphasize abstinence from sex and drugs as the best prevention. The law gives parents the right to prevent their children from participating in sex education courses. ``It's a monumental step for Georgia and in the nation because we are one of the first states in the nation to have a state-mandated curriculum,'' said Peyton Williams, associate superintendent for instruction. ``We are excited about the equity it will provide in classrooms around the state.'' School districts will be required to adhere to the QCC as it is phased in over a period of years. State officials will encourage teachers to begin adhering to the guidelines this fall, but the full curriculum will be phased in over five years when textbooks and other materials are reordered.
