I am working on a widget for my theme. If I do a print_r($insance) in the form function, the instance array is populated with the correct data. I have checked the database and the correct information is there in the options table for my widget. My problem is that if I do a print_r($instance) for the front end, The array is empty and I get undefined indexes in the widget function. I have not been able to figure out what is wrong.

 class alliance_post_builder extends WP_Widget {

/**
 * Register widget with WordPress.
 */
function __construct() {
    parent::__construct(
        'alliance_post_builder', // Base ID
        __( 'Alliance post builder', 'alliance' ), // Name
        array( 'description' => __( 'A post builder', 'alliance' ), ) // Args
    );
}

/**
 * Front-end display of widget.
 *
 * @see WP_Widget::widget()
 *
 * @param array $args     Widget arguments.
 * @param array $instance Saved values from database.
 */
public function widget( $args, $instance ) {
    extract( $args );
    
    $sectionID = $instance['sectionID'];
    $title = $instance['title'];
    $category = $instance['category'];  
    
?><section id="<?php echo $sectionID; ?>"><?php
        print_r($instance);
    ?></section><?php
} 

    /**
 * Sanitize widget form values as they are saved.
 *
 * @see WP_Widget::update()
 *
 * @param array $new_instance Values just sent to be saved.
 * @param array $old_instance Previously saved values from database.
 *
 * @return array Updated safe values to be saved.
 */
function update( $new_instance, $old_instance ) {
    $instance = $old_instance;

    /* Strip tags for title and name to remove HTML (important for text inputs). */
    $instance['title'] = strip_tags( $new_instance['title'] );
    $instance['sectionID'] = strip_tags( $new_instance['sectionID'] );
    $instance['category'] = $new_instance['category'];

    return $instance;
}

/** 
 * Back-end widget form.
 *
 * @see WP_Widget::form()
 *
 * @param array $instance Previously saved values from database.
 */
public function form( $instance ) {

$defaults = array( 'title' => __('A new section', 'alliance'), 'sectionID' => __('', 'alliance'), 'category' => -1 );
$instance = wp_parse_args( (array) $instance, $defaults ); 
    
    ?>
    <p>
    <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'sectionID' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Section Id:' ); ?></label> 
    <input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'sectionID' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'sectionID' ); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $sectionID ); ?>">
    </p>
    
    <p>
    <label for="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>"><?php _e( 'Title:' ); ?></label> 
    <input class="widefat" id="<?php echo $this->get_field_id( 'title' ); ?>" name="<?php echo $this->get_field_name( 'title' ); ?>" type="text" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $title ); ?>">
    </p>
    <?php 
        wp_dropdown_categories( array(
        'name' => $this->get_field_name( 'category' ),
        'selected' => $instance["category"],
        'show_option_none'   => 'None',
    ) );
}
 }