New Jersey health and education officials on Tuesday sent a letter to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt saying that the state will not accept about $800,000 in federal abstinence education funds because requirements tied to the money violate the standards of the state's sex education and HIV/AIDS education programs, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. The state has accepted the Title V federal abstinence education funds every year since 1997, but the letter says new requirements limit the program's flexibility. The letter adds that teachers would be barred from discussing contraception and that New Jersey's AIDS Prevention Act allows contraception discussion in schools. The federal requirements also would require teachers to say that sex within marriage is "the expected standard of sexual activity," the letter says. "Monogamy is not a bad idea, but having the government of New Jersey dictate these things for families is not something we wish to do," state Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said, adding, "It isn't the function of the state government to create standards (for sexual activity)." California, Maine and Pennsylvania also have rejected federal abstinence education funds (Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger, 10/25).