{"id":2690,"date":"2017-04-18T19:22:15","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T23:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2017-04-18T19:22:15","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T23:22:15","slug":"how-could-this-go-sideways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2690","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How could this go sideways?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday is probably our last realistic chance to put the brakes on, or at least challenge, the creationist and climate change denier’s dream bill: Instructional Materials bills SB 1210<\/a> and HB 989<\/a>. (See our long list of blog posts on these bills in the Instructional Materials bill ’17<\/a> category.) The Senate Appropriation Committee<\/a> is scheduled to hear their version of the bill then. It would be gratifying to see at least one senator point out the massive pitfalls in it. Even better, wouldn’t it be nice to pull off a miracle by having the bill voted down? The only way that will happen is if you contact the committee senators. I know, without a doubt, our opponents are working the phones. We need to be louder!<\/p>\n

And the full House was expected to question and debate the bill today (Tuesday). But I believe that the meeting ran too long, pushing HB 989 to tomorrow’s calendar (Wednesday). It couldn’t hurt to contact lawmakers there to see if any of them will speak up for reality-based science education.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Orlando Sentinel has an article online tonight (to be published in the Wednesday print edition) about the bills:\u00c2\u00a0Parents may get new way to challenge school textbooks<\/a>. Florida Citizens for Science is featured nicely.<\/p>\n

The proposals have alarmed some science advocates, who fear the measures could lead to books that tackle controversial but required scientific topics, such as evolution, being removed or to those subjects being axed from class lessons.<\/p>\n

In one of the affidavits, for example, a Martin County resident wrote about her objections to a textbook used in an Advanced Placement course. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Presentation of evolution as fact \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 The vast majority of Americans believe that the world and the beings living on it were created by God as revealed in the Bible,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wrote Lynda Daniel.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If this bill becomes law, school boards will become inundated with demands that certain books be outright banned and that schools must discontinue using textbooks that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mesh with a vocal minority\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ideological views,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wrote Brandon Haught, a Volusia County high school science teacher and member of the group Florida Citizens for Science.<\/p>\n

The bills are a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disaster\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and would mean school boards would have to deal with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nonsense complaints\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a process that gives \u00e2\u20ac\u0153protesters on a crusade nearly equal weight in the instructional materials selection processes as education and subject matter experts,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haught said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"go<\/a>The final quote in the story just makes me shake my head.<\/p>\n

Ruth Melton, director of advocacy services for the Florida School Boards Association, said her group believes residents should be able to voice their views about school books. But it has some concerns about the bills, such as whether they will mean residents could continue to file protests long after school boards have had vote to adopt textbooks for use in upcoming classes.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Have we created language here that just invites challenge and litigation?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How could this go sideways?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We know exactly how. We’ve been trying to tell everyone for weeks now. Isn’t it about time someone listens?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday is probably our last realistic chance to put the brakes on, or at least challenge, the creationist and climate change denier’s dream bill: Instructional Materials bills SB 1210 and HB 989. (See our long list of blog posts on … 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],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-Ho","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2381,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2381","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":0},"title":"Tracking Textbook bills","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We will use this post to try and keep track of two bills in our state legislature that could change textbook adoption and review procedures. See our previous post for a summary of why these bills are of concern. Senate Bill SB 1018: Instructional Materials for K-12 Public Education 12\/17\/15\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":2628,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2628","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":1},"title":"Who will determine what is noninflammatory, objective, and balanced?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The bad Instructional Materials for K-12 Public Education bills are both seeing action this week. In the Florida House: On Monday at 12:30 the House version (HB 989) will be considered by the\u00c2\u00a0PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee. However, the bill might change. A proposed committee substitute has been filed, which, if approved,\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":3189,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3189","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":2},"title":"Alert: Bad Instructional Materials bill on the move!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A bad Florida Senate bill we're watching is on the move! SB 1644 is on the education committee agenda for Tuesday, Feb. 6. The committee meets at 9 a.m. Senate Bill 1644 (and\u00c2\u00a0Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s House Bill 827) would, if enacted, revise the procedures for adopting instructional materials to permit members of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2575,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2575","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":3},"title":"Instructional Materials bills starting to get attention","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Two bills filed in the Florida legislature that could make significant changes to how textbooks and other instructional materials are selected and reviewed at the local school district level are getting attention from the media and other organizations. We believe that the bills (House Bill 989 and Senate Bill 1210)\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":2690,"position":4},"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":2698,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2698","url_meta":{"origin":2690,"position":5},"title":"It’s time to make a difference","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"April 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Creationists, climate change deniers and anti-vaccine nuts are gloating. The instructional materials bill that will allow them to gum up the local textbook selection process and bully school boards into compromise passed its final House vote. Representatives approved it 94-25. Meanwhile, the final Senate committee to hear it said yes\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690"}],"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=2690"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2694,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions\/2694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}