South Dakota was one of 40 states to receive a letter from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Administration for Children and Families (ACF) instructing states to remove gender ideology material from public school curricula.

The letter to South Dakota itemized several instances of radical gender ideology being pushed in the state’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), which is a course designed to teach students about abstinence, contraception, and other adult preparation subjects. At the risk of oversimplifying, PREP could be considered a federally funded sexual education program.

“While preparing South Dakota’s PREP content for the medical accuracy review, ACF identified content in the curricula and other program materials that fall outside of the scope of PREP’s authorizing statute,” the letter from ACF states (see page 174 of linked document).

A “facilitator tip” in PREP’s Teen Outreach Program (TOP) tells teachers that “sexuality is complex and can be difficult to define. It is normal for participants to struggle to understand it broadly and to have different views. Support participants in sharing and listening to one another, and make sure dialogue remains respectful and inclusive.” It further instructs teachers to ask students “what could be part of a person’s sexuality” and includes answers such as body image, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. The curriculum tells teachers to note to students that “sexuality is a personal experience and will be different for everyone.”

Another example is found on page 94 of a book titled This Is Me. Who Are You? – “Our identity, or how we see ourselves, includes many different things, such as our race/ethnicity, nationality, culture, religious affiliation, age, gender, sexuality, roles (ex: athlete, big sister, etc.), personality traits and interests.”

ACF saved perhaps the most incriminating passage for last:

“When we use body parts to describe people, we’re talking about ‘biological sex,’ or sex assigned at birth, which is different than gender. Gender is how people identify and express themselves. Transgender people are people whose gender identity is different from their biological sex or sex assigned at birth. Gender nonconforming and non-binary people are people whose gender identities are not exclusively either boy/man or girl/woman.However someone identifies, they should feel safe, respected, and included in TOP.”

There’s no denying that PREP is currently pushing gender ideology onto South Dakota students. Taxpayer dollars should never go toward indoctrinating students with woke, scientifically inaccurate ideas.

The letter continued:

The “purpose” of a PREP grant award is for states to “carry out personal responsibility education programs.” The statute includes no mention of gender ideology, which is both irrelevant to teaching abstinence and contraception and unrelated to any of the adult preparation subjects. The statute neither requires, supports nor authorizes teaching students that gender identity is distinct from biological sex or that boys can identify as girls and vice versa; thus, gender ideology is outside the scope of the authorizing statute and any expenditures associated with gender ideology are not allowable, reasonable, or allocable to the PREP grant.

South Dakota’s current PREP curricula and program materials are out of compliance with the PREP statute and HHS regulations and must be modified.

Therefore, ACF instructs South Dakota to remove all content concerning gender ideology from its curricula, program materials, and any other aspects of its program delivery within 60 days of receipt of this letter and provide a copy of the modified materials to ACF for approval.

We’re thankful ACF audited and exposed this content and intends to hold South Dakota public schools accountable. Our students deserve better!