Days Are Numbered for Ineffective Abstinence Ed

The key to building trust in government is to show deep understanding of the difference between effective and ineffective government -- putting our tax dollars into what works, scrapping or revamping programs that don't work.

Thankfully, some ineffective government may soon be kicked to the curb. According to CQ Today, [1] House leaders plan to let expire the $50 million in annual federal funds supporting abstinence-only education.

Putting aside philosophical arguments about sex ed, the simple fact is abstinence-only education has been proven a failure at getting teenagers to abstain [2], by a Bush administration-funded study no less. (The release of study was delayed for years [2].) Earlier, a report from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chronicled the dangerous misinformation these programs [3] are giving teens.

CQ reports that congressional leaders, spooked by the "tricky" politics of sex ed, plan the let funding expire without "calling attention" to it.

That's a mistake. To help build trust in Congress to invest taxpayer money wisely into addressing big problems, it's worth highlighting when Congress is saving taxpayer money from wasteful boondoggles [3].