{"id":2397,"date":"2016-01-11T17:11:33","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T22:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2397"},"modified":"2016-01-25T17:46:03","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T22:46:03","slug":"florida-citizens-for-science-news-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2397","title":{"rendered":"Florida Citizens for Science News Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

News Release<\/strong>
\nLawmakers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Instructional Materials Proposal: Costly Headache for School Boards<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jan 11, 2016
\nFlorida Citizens for Science<\/p>\n

Florida Citizens for Science opposes companion bills filed in the Florida House and Senate, HB899 and SB1018, both entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Instructional Materials for K-12 Public Education.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d We assert that these bills are in conflict with Article IX of the Florida Constitution that requires \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d These bills would allow those with no relevant qualifications to change local school districts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 curricula based on personal beliefs and ideology, in opposition to the concepts of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153uniform\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153high quality.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The bills would also clash with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153efficient \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 public schools\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by potentially subjecting school districts to damaging, lengthy and costly court challenges. Furthermore, taxpayers currently have avenues available for their voices to be heard when it comes to instructional materials. In a misguided attempt to give citizens more power, the bills erode the authority and efficiency of education experts who are trained and experienced at evaluating and selecting appropriate instructional materials as well as subject area content experts who ensure the materials\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 accuracy.<\/p>\n

Florida Citizens for Science has the following specific concerns about HB899 and SB1018:<\/p>\n

Costly Court Challenges<\/strong>
\nThese bills can expose school districts to costly and time-consuming litigation. The terms \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inflammatory\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153controversial\u00e2\u20ac\u009d contained in the bills are ill-defined and subject to interpretation, allowing anyone to challenge instructional materials with the claim that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re inflammatory or controversial to Christians, Muslims, Wiccans, Satanists or any special interest group. This is not an idle point. Consider how a Satanist group successfully lobbied for a holiday display in the Florida Capitol.(1) School boards will risk frivolous legal action every time they turn down a complaint, leaving them exposed to potential damages, injunctive relief, attorney fees and court costs. Furthermore, school districts who willingly submit to challenges from creationists concerning how evolution and related topics are presented in instructional materials will certainly face immediate court challenges that could cost the district a million dollars or more.(2) For the school boards, this legislation creates a minefield of no-win scenarios.<\/p>\n

Unqualified vs. Experts<\/strong>
\nThese bills are akin to legalized extortion: any individual muckraker can object to instructional materials and have their protest treated as a show-stopper. Currently, Florida parents unhappy with instructional materials are entitled to complain to their local school board, whose decision is final. These bills extend standing to challenge from parents to any taxpayer. These bills also give additional weight in reviewing instructional materials to unqualified taxpayers, which dilutes and devalues the input of qualified experts.<\/p>\n

Targeting Science<\/strong>
\nThese bills would empower taxpayers to object to the use of specific instructional materials in the public schools, for example on the grounds that they fail to provide “a noninflammatory, objective, and balanced viewpoint on issues.” As it applies to Florida Citizens for Science\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s field of expertise, science education, we have noted that the organizations with whom these bills originated have documented their complaints against established factual science. They wish to balance scientific evidence for evolutionary biology with\u00c2\u00a0blatantly religious creation stories.(3) If acted upon by any school district, this would be a clear violation of the establishment clause of the first\u00c2\u00a0amendment to the Constitution as repeatedly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Standards?<\/strong>
\nCurrently, instructional materials used in Florida’s schools must be consistent with the state science standards. The bills state that instructional materials may alternatively be consistent with “standards that are equivalent to or better than the applicable state standards.” No criteria for assessing the relative quality of standards are provided. Who will determine if a set of presented standards are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than the current standards? Furthermore, a revised set of state science standards are due to be completed later this year after two years of hard work. These bills could make the new standards, forged by subject matter experts, irrelevant. Why have expertly crafted state standards if any unqualified person can claim that some other un-vetted set of standards is equivalent or better?<\/p>\n

# # #<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/strong>
\n1. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Satanic Temple display comes to Florida Capitol,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tallahassee Democrat, Dec 22, 2014:
\nhttp:\/\/www.tallahassee.com\/story\/news\/2014\/12\/22\/satanic-temple-display-comes-florida-capitol\/20764841\/<\/p>\n

2. In the federal court case Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, the school board had inserted an alternative to evolution in the curriculum, was challenged in court, and lost. The small school district had to pay legal fees in excess of $1 million. See: http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/nova\/evolution\/intelligent-design-trial.html<\/p>\n

3. See National Center for Science Education: http:\/\/ncse.com\/news\/2015\/12\/antiscience-bills-florida-0016838 and Florida Citizens for Science: http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2378
\nContacts:<\/strong>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Brandon Haught, Florida Citizens for Science Communications Director and author of Going Ape: Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Battles over Evolution in the Classroom: bhaught@flascience.org.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Jonathan Smith, Florida Citizens for Science President: cyjonolds@aol.com.
\nFlorida Citizens for Science is a statewide organization formed in 2005 with the goal of promoting and defending sound science education in Florida: www.flascience.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Release Lawmakers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Instructional Materials Proposal: Costly Headache for School Boards Jan 11, 2016 Florida Citizens for Science Florida Citizens for Science opposes companion bills filed in the Florida House and Senate, HB899 and SB1018, both entitled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Instructional Materials for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-CF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2402,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2402","url_meta":{"origin":2397,"position":0},"title":"Update on instructional materials bills","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Two companion bills have been filed in the Florida Senate and House that have a lot of potential for disrupting education in Florida schools. These instructional materials bills have more than one focus, but the one most concerning to us at Florida Citizens for Science is the back door it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '16"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '16","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=31"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Textbooks-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2440,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2440","url_meta":{"origin":2397,"position":1},"title":"Session over; Instructional Materials bills dead","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida legislative session is mercifully over and the instructional materials bills we've been tracking are history. These ill-conceived bills would have changed the way textbooks and other educational tools are reviewed and selected, handing entirely too much power to well meaning but non-expert parents and not so well meaning,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '16"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '16","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=31"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Textbooks-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2567,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2567","url_meta":{"origin":2397,"position":2},"title":"It’s baaaaack: Instructional Materials bill filed","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year, Florida Citizens for Science voiced our opposition to bills filed in the Florida legislature that would have made significant changes to how textbooks and other instructional materials are selected and reviewed at the local school district level. The good news is that the bills died. The bad news\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2421,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2421","url_meta":{"origin":2397,"position":3},"title":"They’re not dead yet & Getting the word out there","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In my previous post I said that the \"instructional materials\" bills in the state legislature don't look like they're going anywhere. But I also said that they can't be considered dead yet. I was right:\u00c2\u00a0'No bill is dead' in Florida Senate Education, chairman says. Chairman John Legg told the Gradebook\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '16"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '16","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=31"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2618,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2618","url_meta":{"origin":2397,"position":4},"title":"More press about bills","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There are more news stories today about both the Religious Liberties bills and the Instructional Materials bills that we here at Florida Citizens for Science are opposed to and tracking. Naples Daily News:\u00c2\u00a0Senate committee pushes 'religious expression' bill forward Brandon Haught, a high school biology teacher representing the organization Florida\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2639,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2639","url_meta":{"origin":2397,"position":5},"title":"Quick Bills Updates","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a quick update on the Religious Liberties and Instructional Materials bills we're watching in the Florida legislature. Religious Liberties: The bill successfully passed through all Senate committees and the full Senate approved it on a 23-13 vote. The House version successfully passed through all committees and is awaiting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Instructional Materials bills '17"","block_context":{"text":"Instructional Materials bills '17","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Old_and_New_Florida_State_Capitol_Tallahassee_East_view_20160711_1-212x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=2397"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2401,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions\/2401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}