Education should be about more than mathematical equations, important dates in history, English grammar and the Periodic Table. Public education should also help prepare students to become productive, independent and, yes, healthy members of the community. And being healthy includes preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

We agree with many parents and legislators that the morality issues surrounding sexual behavior are best discussed at home, where parents can explain their values to their children. And it's not the role of educators to condone or encourage sexual activity. But the fact is, many of Utah's teenagers don't need any encouragement. And too many don't learn the facts about preventing STDs and pregnancy from their parents.

The rising incidence of STDs is a health issue, not a religious or moral issue. Utah cases of HIV increased 32 percent from 2007 to 2008 and gonorrhea infection nearly tripled in the same period; cases of chlamydia increased faster in Utah than anywhere else in the United States.

These statistics are no secret from Utah students, some of whom rightly feel cheated by sex-education classes that don't arm them with the information they need to stay healthy.

A bill proposed by Rep. Lynn Hemingway, D-Holladay, provides a sensible alternative. It would let parents choose one of two sex-education tracks for their children: abstinence only, or one in which students would learn more about contraceptives and STDs.

Utah teenagers, at least a group of them who spoke to an interim legislative meeting last week, want better sex education. They know from their own and their friends' experience that abstinence-only education isn't enough. They know teens who don't understand how contraceptives work and have contracted diseases or gotten pregnant. They don't want more of their peers or even themselves to fall into a situation that could ruin their futures. We don't, either.

Current law emphasizes abstinence and allows but doesn't require school districts to teach about STDs and contraceptives. It also prohibits teachers from encouraging students to use condoms. And the wording of the law makes teachers fearful that, if they even mention condoms or contraceptives, their jobs could be in jeopardy. So they don't.

Students are approaching legal age, they're dating, they're making decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Statistics clearly show they are not getting enough information. That's unfair to students, who are expected to act like mature adults, but too often don't know how.