{"id":3398,"date":"2019-01-14T17:55:17","date_gmt":"2019-01-14T22:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?page_id=3398"},"modified":"2019-01-26T11:48:04","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T16:48:04","slug":"controversial-theories-rigorous-standards-bills-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?page_id=3398","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Controversial Theories\/Rigorous Standards\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bills 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Latest Update:<\/h3>\n

Jan. 25: Senate bill referred to four committees.<\/p>\n

Overview:<\/h3>\n

A bill was filed for the 2019 legislative session in the Florida legislature that would impact the standards for all academic subjects, especially science. The bill proposes allowing school districts to adopt their own sets of educational standards if they are “equal to or more rigorous” than the state’s educational standards. The bill specifically targets science standards with the following directive from\u00c2\u00a0lines 62 to 66.<\/p>\n

62 (b) Science standards must establish specific curricular
\n63 content for, at a minimum, the nature of science, earth and
\n64 space science, physical science, and life science. Controversial<\/strong>
\n65 theories and concepts shall be taught in a factual, objective,<\/strong>
\n66 and balanced manner. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What’s wrong with this bill:<\/h3>\n

What is meant by “more rigorous” and who sets that standard? An organization in Collier County, Florida Citizens’ Alliance, is a firm supporter of this bill.\u00c2\u00a0They spent several years fighting against what they believe to be bias in textbooks used in their local schools. They eventually expanded their scope to the entire state and met with some success in the state legislature in 2017. For a full write-up of the lengthy history of this fight, which isn’t over yet, see the blog post\u00c2\u00a0Creationist-enabling bill passes; what can you do now?<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0The Alliance listed this new Rigorous Standards\/Controversial Theories bill on their 2019 legislative agenda (pdf file)<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0They advocated<\/a> that school districts should be allowed to use curriculum from places like Freedom Project<\/a>, which uses as a biology textbook Exploring Creation with Biology<\/em> published by\u00c2\u00a0Apologia Educational Ministries. Is this an example of what is meant by “more rigorous?”<\/p>\n

“Controversial theories” is a standard tactic used for several years to target evolution and, lately, climate change. The bills don’t call out these scientific concepts by name, but the history of bills like these, referred to collectively as Academic Freedom Bills<\/a>, make it clear what the intended science topics are.\u00c2\u00a0This Washington Post article<\/a> briefly explains the purpose of these types of bills:<\/p>\n

These bills are worded as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bills, but they really are efforts to present foundational science as controversial. For example, evolution is the animating principle of modern biology, but these laws attempt to allow creationism and evolution to be debated in a science classroom as though they had equal scientific basis. There is no scientific basis to creationist thinking.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Senate Bill 330: Educational Standards for K-12 Public Schools<\/h3>\n

Link to bill here<\/a>. Introduced by Sen. Dennis Baxley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 14, the bill was pre-filed for the 2019 legislative session, which starts March 5.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 25, the bill was referred to four committees:\u00c2\u00a0Education<\/a>; Innovation, Industry, and Technology<\/a>; Appropriations<\/a>; Rules <\/a><\/p>\n

(Historical note: this same bill was filed in the 2018 session<\/a>. That year it went nowhere, not having been scheduled for a hearing in any of its assigned committees.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>House Bill —: ———————-<\/h3>\n

No companion bill has yet been filed in the Florida House.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Background:<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Senate bill was introduced by\u00c2\u00a0Sen. Dennis Baxley<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0who\u00c2\u00a0has a history of disliking evolution lessons in schools. He was a representative in the state house back in 2005 when he sponsored an infamous bill titled The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights. That bill would have prevented \u00e2\u20ac\u0153biased indoctrination\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the classroom dictator.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In defense of that bill he related an upsetting personal story of a Florida State University professor ranting against creationism in class. You can read more about that bill in chapter 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Going Ape: Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Battles over Evolution in the Classroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2008 we here at Florida Citizens for Science were deeply involved in the brawl over the inclusion of evolution in the new state science standards. Baxley was then executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida and he had a firm opinion about the issue<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There is no justification for singling out evolution for special skepticism or critical analysis,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wrote Richard T. O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady, executive director of the American Institute of Biological Sciences in a Feb. 8 letter to the Board of Education. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Its strength as a scientific theory matches that of the theory of gravitation, atomic theory and the germ theory.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The response from Dennis Baxley, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in error.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At one time, the scientific community thought that for good health, you should attach leaches to your body,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Baxley, a former state representative from Ocala. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just asking them to leave the door open a little bit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for other evidence to be considered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Baxley also sponsored a bill in a previous session, Religious Liberties in Schools,\u00c2\u00a0that successfully became a Florida law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Florida Senate, her partner in this quest is State Sen. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican who owns a string of funeral homes and was the former executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida.<\/p>\n

Baxley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a fan of evolution, and thinks it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unfair that Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s public school children are being exposed to a science curriculum that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow that the earth is just 6,000 years old.<\/p>\n

They were the guiding hands that successfully passed a bill that would expand the role of religion in Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s public schools to levels that have alarmed the American Civil Liberties Union, the Florida Citizens for Science and the Americans United for Separation of Church and State.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Latest Update: Jan. 25: Senate bill referred to four committees. Overview: A bill was filed for the 2019 legislative session in the Florida legislature that would impact the standards for all academic subjects, especially science. The bill proposes allowing school … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3069,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PcZNLl-SO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3082,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?page_id=3082","url_meta":{"origin":3398,"position":0},"title":"“Controversial Theories” Bills 2018","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Final Status: These bills died at the end of the 2018 legislative session. Overview: Bills were filed for the 2018 state legislative session in both chambers that would impact the standards for all academic subjects, especially science. The bills proposed allowing school districts to adopt their own sets of educational\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3069,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?page_id=3069","url_meta":{"origin":3398,"position":1},"title":"Issues","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Current Issues (2017 & 2018) Florida Citizens for Science is facing an unprecedented year full of attacks on science education in 2018. Each of the links below goes to a page with details about each issue. You can also access each issue's page through the drop down menu at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Take-Action-2-300x212-300x212.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3087,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?page_id=3087","url_meta":{"origin":3398,"position":2},"title":"Textbook Challenges Bill 2018","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Final Status: Both bills died at the end of session. 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One of them is: A school district\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3091,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?page_id=3091","url_meta":{"origin":3398,"position":4},"title":"Challenges to evolution & climate change in textbooks","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Overview: A new law passed by our state legislature and signed by our governor in 2017 now allows any citizen, not just a parent, to protest to local school boards about instructional materials and those protests could then force the school board to appoint a hearing officer to collect evidence\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/textbookskulls-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3046,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/","url_meta":{"origin":3398,"position":5},"title":"Defending science education since 2006","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It's 2021 and we're still fighting the same battles over the teaching of evolution (and now climate change) in our schools that have been ongoing for decades. Bills filed in previous year's state legislative session targeted so-called \"controversial theories\" taught in science classes. Citizens and school board officials have attacked\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/cropped-kids-microscopes-1-291x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3398"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3415,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3398\/revisions\/3415"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}