Parents of students in Cedarburg will need to give permission before their children can learn about sexual education topics under a new program this year, a move opponents argue violates state sexual education legislation.

Dr. Fredrika Harper, director of curriculum and instruction in Cedarburg, said in an October letter to parents they would need to “opt in” for their children to receive education in specified sexual topics.

Under the new program, parents have until Nov. 1 to approve their children to receive course instruction on sex education topics including intercourse, contraception, abortion, homosexuality and masturbation.

In most schools throughout the state, including the Madison Metropolitan School District, students receive instruction unless parents “opt out,” in contrast to the new Cedarburg program.

The Cedarburg School District sent parents or guardians of ninth graders a form detailing what students will learn through their human and development course, including personal safety, interpersonal relationships, decision-making and personal responsibility, as well as self-concept, self-esteem and sexually transmitted diseases.

Opponents maintain the new program violates the recently-passed Healthy Youth Act, which created a statewide standard for providing medically accurate, unbiased and age-appropriate information to students if school districts choose to teach human growth and development courses.

In Wisconsin, when a school district chooses to teach human growth and development, their schools are held to the statewide standard as described in the Healthy Youth Act, according to Kevin Benish, spokesperson for Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, a co-author of the Healthy Youth Act.

However, the Cedarburg program is in clear violation of the Healthy Youth Act, Benish said.

“Since Cedarburg has chosen to teach human growth and development, they are not allowed to require [the parents of students] to opt in to the curriculum,” Benish said.

When the Healthy Youth Act was passed earlier this year, it was a strong victory for both the youth and adults of Wisconsin, Lisa Subeck, spokesperson for Pro-Choice Wisconsin, said.

Sexual education has proven to be one of the strongest methods in preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, Subeck added.