Teachers who deliver sex education to Broward school children must stress abstinence and heterosexual marriage under a legal settlement with a Weston couple who took offense at the lessons.

The settlement, made public Friday, ends a two-year dispute with Paul and Jodi Hoffman over the material dispensed to Broward students in sex education classes. District leaders voiced relief.

"It’s costly to go to court and defend these kinds of suits," said School Board Chairwoman Lois Wexler. "If our curriculum people believe the changes are in the best interest of our children, then I support them."

Under the terms of the settlement, Broward teachers must pay closer attention to an obscure section of state law that mandates an abstinence-first approach to human sexuality.

In their 1997 lawsuit, the Weston parents claimed students were learning "inappropriate, inaccurate, unfair and biased information on human sexuality in Broward classrooms. The Hoffmans had three children in Broward schools when the suit was filed.

The Hoffmans were especially incensed at references to condoms, abortion and cross-dressing in the curriculum. Concepts they felt had no place in public schools.

The couple could not be reached Friday for comment on the settlement.

U.S. District Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley dismissed the suit last month after the family reached an amicable settlement with the school district, officials said.

Florida law allows school districts to teach about AIDS and human sexuality. But if they do, they must stress that abstinence from sex until marriage is "the expected standard for all school-age children."

State law also calls for teachers to emphasize "the benefits of monogamous heterosexual marriage."

Sex education is part of a class called Life Management Skills that is required in Florida schools, though parentshave the option of exempting their children from the sex-ed lessons.

Such sensitive topics as abortion, homosexuality and date rape are commonplace in sexuality lessons, but no state or federal law requires schools to teach them.

State law doesn’t restrict schools from teaching such controversial topics, as long as the lessons advocate abstinence until marriage and are "appropriate for the grade and age of the student."

One provision of the district’s legal settlement with the Hoffmans forbids teachers to use a lesson on abortion from an interactive laser disc titled Understanding Ourselves; Teenage Sexuality. Another instructs teachers to follow consent guidelines when distributing newspapers to students under Newspapers in Education partnerships in order to steer them clear of objectionable ads.

In a memo to several senior district officials dated February 1, School Board Attorney Edward Marlo instructs the administrators to begin enacting the terms of the settlement.

In the lawsuit, the Weston couple asked for a court order requiring the school district to stop providing the "inappropriate and inaccurate" material to minors.

Diane Sealise, director of health education in Broward schools, declined to comment on the settlement. Frances Haisbcock, deputy superintendent for instruction, could not be reached.