{"id":2732,"date":"2017-05-08T16:33:31","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T20:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2732"},"modified":"2017-05-08T16:33:31","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T20:33:31","slug":"meet-your-new-unbiased-textbook-hearing-officer-florida-creationists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2732","title":{"rendered":"Meet your new “unbiased” textbook hearing officer: Florida creationists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KangarooCourt\"<\/a>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 textbooks and other materials. For a full analysis of the bill, see our thorough blog post\u00c2\u00a0Creationist-enabling bill passes; what can you do now?<\/a><\/p>\n

But nearly every day we’re learning more about the havoc these bills will cause across the state. PBS’s Frontline posted a detailed story today about antiscience bills around the country:\u00c2\u00a0A New Wave of Bills Takes Aim at Science in the Classroom<\/a>. A large chunk of the story focuses on Florida, of course.<\/p>\n

One particularly bad aspect of the bill is this requirement:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 for all petitions timely received, conduct at least one open public hearing before an unbiased and qualified hearing officer. The hearing officer may not be an employee or agent of the school district. The hearing is not subject to the provisions of chapter 120; however, the hearing must provide sufficient procedural protections to allow each petitioner an adequate and fair opportunity to be heard and present evidence to the hearing officer \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the PBS story, we learn that the Florida Citizens’ Alliance, which is the group that wrote the bill and helped push it through the legislature, is standing by to serve.<\/p>\n

Haught says he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worried that financially strapped districts, reluctant to pay for a hearing officer, may cave to objections, regardless of their merits.<\/p>\n

But Flaugh, of Florida Citizens Alliance, waved off the concern, saying members of his group would volunteer to be hearing officers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pick your jaw up off the floor. Flaugh and his Alliance wrote the bill and worked closely with its sponsors in the House and Senate. They know exactly what they were doing when they wrote it. The bill doesn’t give any details about how this “unbiased and qualified hearing officer” would be chosen. Clearly, that was on purpose. They want to be able to go to a school board with a complaint and then get themselves selected to be the hearing officers to judge the merits of their very own complaint. Ingenious.<\/p>\n

But could this result in one of our greatest fears: creationism in the classroom? Of course, it could. From the story:<\/p>\n

The group supported legislation that also passed Friday to protect students and educators who wish to express their religious beliefs in school from discrimination. If signed by the governor, Flaugh said his group will use it in conjunction with the instructional materials bill to contest textbooks that demonstrate \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bias toward Islam and seldom mention Christianity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and promote those that push for a Christian view of the origins of life.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Darwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory is a theory, and the biblical view is a theory, and our kids should be taught both in a balanced way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n

Kara Gross, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said the bill will allow teachers, personnel and administrators to advance their religious beliefs in school. She said she expects the bill to be litigated on constitutional grounds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That other bill about religious beliefs is the Religious Liberties Act that we here at Florida Citizens for Science opposed. (See our series of blog posts<\/a> on this bill.) We were told at the time that the bill had nothing to do with science education and we shouldn’t worry about it. Wrong.<\/p>\n

Do you care about science education? Join Florida Citizens for Science<\/a>. Frankly, we don’t need people who just hit “like” on Facebook posts. That’s not how the Alliance folks got their bill passed. We need people who are ready and willing to DO SOMETHING. If that’s you, then join us and we’ll get something done together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … 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-I4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2698,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2698","url_meta":{"origin":2732,"position":0},"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":[]},{"id":2723,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2723","url_meta":{"origin":2732,"position":1},"title":"“Antiscience bill passed in Florida”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"We'll issue an official, detailed statement later. But for now, here's the bad news from today's Florida legislature (courtesy of National Center for Science Education): Antiscience bill passed in Florida A Florida bill aimed at empowering taxpayers to object to the use of specific instructional materials in the public schools,\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":2732,"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":2741,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2741","url_meta":{"origin":2732,"position":3},"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":2575,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2575","url_meta":{"origin":2732,"position":4},"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":2788,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2788","url_meta":{"origin":2732,"position":5},"title":"Your last chance to stop bill loved by creationists is now!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This is it, ladies and gentlemen. You've been hearing about it from us for months now. The bill that would empower creationists, climate change deniers, anti-vaccine proponents, and other factual science education foes to challenge the textbooks and other instructional materials in school districts across the state is on the\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\/2732"}],"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=2732"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2736,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2732\/revisions\/2736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}