TOPEKA ? A Kansas House committee has advanced a bill requiring parents to give written permission for their children to receive sex education in public schools.

The House Education Committee voted Thursday to add the policy to an unrelated bill, sending it to the full House for debate.

Kansas now lets each local school board decide if parents must opt their children into or out of sex education.

The bill would make it state law that districts must receive parental permission before students would receive materials on sexuality, diseases and related subject matter.

Critics argued that schools are the only source for some children to receive proper information on sexuality.