{"id":2618,"date":"2017-03-15T14:11:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T18:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2618"},"modified":"2017-03-15T14:11:31","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T18:11:31","slug":"more-press-about-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2618","title":{"rendered":"More press about bills"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Naples Daily News:\u00c2\u00a0Senate committee pushes ‘religious expression’ bill forward<\/a><\/p>\n

Brandon Haught, a high school biology teacher representing the organization Florida Citizens for Science, says the bill would have detrimental effects specifically in science education.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Does this mean that a teacher or school personnel can then talk about stuff like the age of the Earth and evolution from a religious perspective, and if someone was to try to counsel them not to do that, would that be discrimination against the teacher?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Haught also raised concerns about students being able to refute what is being taught based on their own religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This has a chilling effect on science teachers across the state who would prefer to short-change evolution instruction rather than deal with potential conflicts with students, parents and the community,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haught said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tampa Bay Times:\u00c2\u00a0‘Religious liberties’ measures diverge, but advance<\/a><\/p>\n

The bills were once identical, but the House Pre-K-12 Quality Subcommittee amended its bill to make it more narrow than the Senate\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At this point that seems to be our best hope. The House and Senate versions are different and if they are both approved by their respective chambers, they will need to be reconciled before moving to the governor’s desk. We’ve seen bills fall apart at that stage before and we’re hoping it happens again now.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Instructional Materials bills get some media attention too.<\/p>\n

Naples Daily News:\u00c2\u00a0Leon educators say ‘instructional materials’ bill not needed<\/a><\/p>\n

Flaugh said he and others in the Alliance define \u00e2\u20ac\u0153objectionable material\u00e2\u20ac\u009d within the textbooks to be that which is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153strongly biased on major issues.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d However, critics of the bill say it could be a Trojan horse to undermine instruction of climate change and evolution.<\/p>\n

Flaugh characterizes the bill as straightforward, simply a way to control quality when it comes to what a community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s children are reading and discussing.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Wood, however, thinks the legislation was proposed to benefit special interests with hidden agendas.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This bill seems like a well-disguised way for single-issue interest groups who don’t have students in public schools to work their agendas,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"textbookskulls\"<\/a>Keith Flaugh and his Florida Citizens’ Alliance are trying to tap dance around specifics when called out on them. But they’ve been passing around copies of their “Objectionable Materials” list [pdf document] <\/a>that shows on page 8:<\/p>\n

World History – Ancient Civilization: Author” Holt McDougal, Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt
\n6th grade History: These two pages teach the children that we descended from apes. This is stated as a fact not a theory. http:\/\/goo.gl\/MNqVBm<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That link in their document takes you to a page of their website that states this:<\/p>\n

Collier County 6th grade History: These two pages teach the children that we descended from apes. This is stated as a fact not a theory. Nowhere in the material is a balanced discussion of the biblical explanation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trojan horse, indeed. Fortunately, both the Senate and House versions of this bill are still stalled with no committee hearings scheduled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … 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":[32,33],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-Ge","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2639,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2639","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":0},"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":2741,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2741","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":1},"title":"Nature notes one bad bill; no one notices the other","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The science journal Nature published an article about antiscience bills that have cropped up across America, with a special focus on our very own Sunshine State:\u00c2\u00a0Revamped 'anti-science' education bills in United States find success. The piece focuses on the instructional materials bill that pretty much sailed through the state House\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":2570,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2570","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":2},"title":"When more is not merrier","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We noted yesterday that the bad Instructional Materials bill from last year has been resurrected for another attempt this year in the Florida House. Unfortunately, the House bill now has a companion in the Senate that was filed today: SB 1210. I believe it's a duplicate of the House bill.\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":2732,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2732","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":3},"title":"Meet your new “unbiased” textbook hearing officer: Florida creationists","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Creationists, climate change deniers and other antiscience nuts scored a major victory in the Florida legislature with the passage of the instructional materials bill. This bill, if the governor signs it, will kick wide open the door for ideological crusaders to pester their local school boards about banning or changing\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":2615,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2615","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":4},"title":"Lots and lots of bill updates today","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a bit to talk about today. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start with the Religious Liberties bills that we oppose on the grounds they can negatively impact science education. One passed the Senate judiciary committee this afternoon on a narrow, party line vote of 5-4. I spoke at this meeting but I\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":2586,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2586","url_meta":{"origin":2618,"position":5},"title":"Science is not poetry","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino has a few things to say about Religious Liberties bills sponsored in the Senate by Dennis Baxley:\u00c2\u00a0Getting liberated from science in Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcreligious liberties\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 bill. Cerabino brings up a bit about Baxley's past consternation over science education: Back when the Ocala Republican took a\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\/2618"}],"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=2618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2618\/revisions\/2619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}