The Vicksburg Warren School District will be in the minority in its approach to teaching sex education when the school year begins next week.

Eighty-one districts, more than half the school districts in the state, have chosen an abstinence-only approach, a list released Friday by the state Department of Education shows.

Seventy-one, including the VWSD, have chosen abstinence-plus, which can include teaching students about contraception without any demonstration of condoms or other methods.

Three districts are taking a split approach, with abstinence-only for younger grades and abstinence-plus for older grades.

Mississippi has long had one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the nation. A state law enacted in 2011 requires school districts to teach some sort of sex education, beginning in the 2012-13 academic year.

Districts had a June 30 deadline to choose their approach. In a split, 4-1 vote April 26, the VWSD Board of Trustees voted to adopt an abstinence-plus curriculum, “Choosing the Best.” District 4 Trustee Joe Loviza dissented without comment, after asking about abstinence-only programs.

“Choosing the Best” is aimed at high school students and can be adapted for students in grades six through eight, local trustees were told.

Parents must give permission for their children to take the classes, and boys and girls are separated.

The state’s largest school district, DeSoto County, chose abstinence-only. The second-largest district, in the city of Jackson, chose abstinence-plus.

The state Board of Education chose abstinence-plus for four specialty schools it governs: the Mississippi School for the Deaf and the Mississippi School for the Blind, both in Jackson; the Mississippi School of the Arts, in Brookhaven; and the Mississippi School for Math and Science, in Columbus.

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant appointed a group this year to study ways to reduce teenage pregnancy. He has said repeatedly that he believes abstinence-only is the best approach to teaching young people about sex.

A study released in September 2011 showed births to teen or preteen mothers cost Mississippi $154.9 million in 2009.

State Health Department statistics show that in 2009, there were 7,078 live births to mothers ages 10 to 19. That meant that for every 1,000 girls or women in that age group, about 64 gave birth to a baby who lived. The rate for the U.S. was 39 live births among every 1,000 girls or women younger than 20. The statistics do not include pregnancies that ended in stillbirths, miscarriages or abortions.

Under a previous law, Mississippi school districts were not required to teach either comprehensive sex education or abstinence. Districts were allowed to teach abstinence, but if they wanted to teach more than that, they needed local school board approval.