Topeka ? A state board of education member on Wednesday tried to prevent the Kansas Department of Education from participating in an HIV/AIDS conference because she said the conference promoted safe sex instead of abstinence-only.

The attempt by Kathy Martin, a Republican from Clay Center, to cut off state funds for the conference, failed.

“I don’t see how I, in good conscience, could tell a high school student, ‘Sure honey go use a condom and have a great time with your boyfriend,'” Martin said.

But some board members who opposed Martin’s move said that while they supported abstinence as part of sex education, they didn’t want to micro-manage the education agency, and they needed more information about the conference to make a decision.

Board member Walt Chappell, a Democrat from Wichita, said sex education needed to be comprehensive to be effective with young people.

“They are protected best, in my opinion, if they have knowledge,” he said.

The dispute was over a conference last summer on HIV/AIDS education programs. The conference has been held for 10 years and is designed to provide professional development for teachers, school nurses and guidance counselors in the area of HIV/AIDS and human sexuality education.

Officials from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa and Wyoming participated in the event. The Kansas Department of Education provided $8,000 to help put on the conference.

Last summer’s conference did include an abstinence-only exhibit, but Martin said the conference promoted a “safe-sex message.”

Martin made a motion to prevent the education agency from expending state funds to participate in the conference, but that failed 3-6 with one abstention.

She then made a motion that the state could only expend funds on the conference if it were “balanced” in sex education. But again board members voiced concerns over what she meant by balanced, and others said they felt they were being rushed into making a decision without having more information about the conference. That motion failed 4-6.