College Students Rehash Outdated Arguments On Sex-Education

Current Events

Earlier this week the University of Arkansas’ Arkansas Traveler published an article about sex-education in the state.

The article quoted college students who feel Arkansas should stop promoting abstinence sex-education and instead mandate comprehensive sex-education in its public schools.

One person quoted in the article said the state’s position on sex-education is “archaic” and “fueled by misinformation.”

Here’s the truth about sex-education in Arkansas:

Policymakers in Arkansas worked to implement comprehensive sex-education in the 1980s and 1990s.

These programs focused on teaching public school students about contraceptive use.

During that time, Arkansas’ teen birth rate remained high, and teenagers were among those most likely to have an abortion.

In 1997 the state switched strategies, promoting abstinence-based sex-education in public schools. The results were nothing short of staggering.

Teen birth rates and teen abortion rates in Arkansas plummeted.

From 1997 to 2003, the teen abortion rate fell by approximately 37%, and the teen birth rate fell by 16%.

The program was so successful that it garnered national attention from other states.

In 2016 the federal Center for Disease Control released a 200-page report on sexual health among students.

The report indicated that not only does abstinence education work — it positively affects every area of a student’s life.

The CDC writes, “High school students who are virgins rate significantly and consistently better in nearly all health-related behaviors and measures than their sexually active peers.”

According to the CDC report, students who are abstinent are healthier by virtually every measurement — from bike helmet and seat belt use to substance abuse, diet, doctor’s visits, exercise — even tanning bed use.

Bottom line: If any notion about sex-education is “archaic” and “fueled by misinformation,” it’s the idea that comprehensive sex-education in our public schools will somehow be good for students.

Photo Credit: RebelAt at English Wikipedia [CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

READ MORE

A Few Facts About Arkansas’ Lottery Scholarship

Arkansas Lottery

In 2009 Arkansas rolled out a state-run lottery to fund college scholarships.

Here in no particular order are a few facts about the state’s lottery scholarship program.

The State Lottery Has Never Delivered on Its Promised $100 Million Per Year for Scholarships

Back in 2008 then-Lt. Governor Bill Halter promised Arkansans that a state-run lottery could provide $100 million per year every year in college scholarship funding.

However, to date the Arkansas Lottery consistently has fallen short of that promise.

Only a Fraction of the Arkansas Lottery’s Revenue Goes to Scholarships

One reason the Arkansas Lottery has failed to provide $100 million in scholarship funding is that only a fraction of the state’s lottery revenue actually goes to scholarships.

Most of the money pays for lottery prizes.

So far this fiscal year, the Arkansas Lottery has given college students about 14-15 cents out of every dollar it has made.

About 69 cents out of every dollar has been spent on prizes for people who buy lottery tickets.

For perspective, the average state lottery spends about 30% of its revenue on education and allocates much less than Arkansas does for prizes.

Lawmakers Have Been Forced to Reduce and Restructure the Lottery Scholarship to Deal With Shortfalls

In 2009, Arkansas’ lottery-funded scholarship gave $2,500 to college freshmen; $2,750 to sophomores; $3,000 to juniors; and $3,500 to seniors.

The Arkansas Legislature later restructured the scholarships to deal with a shortfall in funding from the state lottery. The scholarship amounts were changed to $2,000 for freshmen; $3,000 for sophomores; $4,000 for juniors; and $5,000 for seniors.

In 2015 the Arkansas Legislature had to restructure the scholarships once again — this time to $1,000 for freshmen; $4,000 for sophomores and juniors; and $5,000 for seniors.

Arkansas Taxpayers Still Subsidize the Lottery Scholarship

Many Arkansans do not realize that since the Arkansas Lottery passed in 2008, the Arkansas Legislature has continued to budget millions of dollars in taxpayer funding to supplement the lottery scholarship each year.

Last year the legislature gave the Academic Challenge Scholarship — the scholarship that the lottery funds — $25 million.

That’s a fairly typical amount.

Even though the Arkansas Lottery makes hundreds of millions of dollars every year, very little money goes to students — and regular taxpayers still end up footing part of the bill for the scholarships.

READ MORE