Many North Carolina students returning to school after the summer break will see changes in their sex education courses as educators implement the state's 2009 Healthy Youth Act.

The law ensures the availability of information on contraceptives, STDs, and sexual assault. Under the act, school systems are no longer required to hold a public hearing before expanding the scope of a sex education curriculum. The newly mandated instruction, which begins in seventh grade, must be based on peer-reviewed scientific literature.

"We hope to again be able to give them medically accurate information concerning the use of contraceptives including the failure rates," said Susan Fisher, a Buncombe County state representative who supported the act. Buncombe County is home to Asheville in mountainous western North Carolina.

Some school systems in North Carolina said the law will not dramatically change their curriculum, but will make sex education more available to younger students.

"Really, the law doesn't change much of what we were doing," said Gaylen Ehrlichman, supervisor of health promotion at the Buncombe County Department of Health. "What it does do is help to strengthen the ninth-grade component and make it the same from school to school."

While incorporating mandated elements, government and school officials said they expect abstinence will remain the primary message of North Carolina sex education programs.

"It's certainly been important to the sponsors of this legislation all the way through that the first line of prevention is abstinence. However, if you are going to engage in sexual activity, we want it to be safe, and we want our students to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease," Fisher said.

Officials are distributing information about the sex education curriculum with postings on Buncombe County's website and letters to parents, who retain the right to opt their children out of the classes. In addition, the school system is sponsoring a series of meetings throughout the county.