{"id":2524,"date":"2017-01-20T17:25:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T22:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2524"},"modified":"2017-01-23T18:20:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T23:20:35","slug":"trouble-for-science-education-found-in-florida-house-bill-303","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2524","title":{"rendered":"Trouble for science education found in Florida House Bill 303"},"content":{"rendered":"

House Bill 303, filed Thursday (1\/19) by Rep. Kimberly Daniels, has the potential for serious trouble. The “Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/a> has two troublesome sections that could impact science education.<\/p>\n

The bill is broad, with the purpose of protecting\/allowing students and others in the school system free religious expression without fear of discrimination. On the surface, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a noble desire. But there are booby traps littering the five-page bill that could blow up in many places, including the science classroom.<\/p>\n

The first cause for alarm comes early in the bill:<\/p>\n

A school district may not discriminate against a student, parent, or school personnel on the basis of a religious viewpoint or religious expression.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"open-your-text-books-2\"<\/a>That single sentence can kick open the door for creationists and even climate change deniers in instructional positions to freely express their anti-science views in the classroom. And that sentence actually is alone. The bulk of the bill addresses students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 religious expression while just this one sentence mentions rights for\u00c2\u00a0school personnel. There are no further details or explanation to go with that single statement, leaving it wide open to interpretation and abuse.<\/p>\n

The other cause for alarm can be found here:<\/p>\n

A student may express his or her religious beliefs in coursework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination. A student’s homework and classroom assignments shall be evaluated, regardless of their religious content, based on expected academic standards relating to the course curriculum and requirements. A student may not be penalized or rewarded based on the religious content of his or her work if the coursework, artwork, or other written or oral assignments require a student’s viewpoint to be expressed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the one hand, anti-science views expressed by students can be tempered with the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153expected academic standards\u00e2\u20ac\u009d requirement. And keeping assignments fact based can eliminate anti-science \u00e2\u20ac\u0153student\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s viewpoint\u00e2\u20ac\u009d issues. On the other hand, there is too much wiggle room in there that could allow students or their parents to make trouble for teachers teaching reality-based science. Even though teachers can use academic standards to defend themselves, this paragraph in the bill can still have a chilling effect on teachers who want to avoid conflicts.<\/p>\n

This bill is not strictly an anti-science or creationist one, but it certainly can be used for those purposes if signed into law as is. There is also the very real and dangerous possibility of the bill being amended and otherwise modified during the legislative session to include creationist and deceptively called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d language. We need to keep an eye on it for the next few months.<\/p>\n

\"daniels\"<\/a>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also worth noting that the bill sponsor runs Kimberly Daniels Ministries International <\/a>and affiliated organizations. A quick Internet search doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t turn up any statements about evolution or creationism by Daniels. But she certainly has a colorful history<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Daniels has gained as much attention for her work on the [Jacksonville City] council as her background as an ex-prostitute and a minister who performs exorcisms. Her sermons \u00e2\u20ac\u201d some have been criticized as offensive against Jews and homosexuals \u00e2\u20ac\u201d can be heard on local television and seen on the internet. She was also featured on a television show in 2012, where she is shown speaking in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tongues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and wildly performing exorcisms at her Jacksonville church.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Bill 303, filed Thursday (1\/19) by Rep. Kimberly Daniels, has the potential for serious trouble. The “Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has two troublesome sections that could impact science education. The bill is broad, with the … 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":[33],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-EI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2572,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2572","url_meta":{"origin":2524,"position":0},"title":"Update: Religious Liberties bill","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A bad bill filed in the Florida Senate by Sen. Dennis Baxley that could potentially affect science education has taken its first step forward. SB 436, entitled the Religious Liberties bill, is scheduled to be considered by the education committee on March 6 at 1:30 p.m. Many bills are filed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2626,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2626","url_meta":{"origin":2524,"position":1},"title":"Religious Liberties bills nearing finish line","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida Senate approved the bad Religious Liberties bill (SB 436) on a vote of 23-13. The version in the House (HB 303) passed through both of its committee stops on unanimous yes votes and will now go to the full House. The only thing that will stop or modify\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2582,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2582","url_meta":{"origin":2524,"position":2},"title":"Religious Liberties bill passes Senate education committee","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A bill that is potentially harmful to science education in Florida schools was reported favorably (in other words, it passed) by the Senate education committee today. The Religious Liberties bill was passed on a party-line vote of 5-2. The Senate bill still has to get through a judiciary committee meeting,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2639,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2639","url_meta":{"origin":2524,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":2551,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2551","url_meta":{"origin":2524,"position":4},"title":"“A solution in search of a problem”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Citizens for Science needs your help! It's going to be a busy year for us and we need all the vocal, passionate, action-oriented science advocates we can find to support our cause. Please read all the way to the end of this post and consider our call to action.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2594,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2594","url_meta":{"origin":2524,"position":5},"title":"Religious Liberties bill on a fast track","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00c2\u00a0Religious Expression in Public Schools bill filed in the Florida Senate is now scheduled to be heard by the judiciary committee March 14 (Tuesday) at 2 p.m. We need you to contact the senators on the committee and urge them to amend or stop this bill due to concerns over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religious Liberties Act 2017"","block_context":{"text":"Religious Liberties Act 2017","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=33"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524"}],"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=2524"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2533,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2524\/revisions\/2533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}