{"id":2827,"date":"2017-07-18T18:40:11","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T22:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2017-07-18T18:40:11","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T22:40:11","slug":"u-s-senator-from-florida-blasts-instructional-materials-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2827","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Senator from Florida blasts instructional materials law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bill_Nelson\"<\/a>U.S. Senator from Florida Bill Nelson seized upon all of the press generated by his state’s new instructional materials law to stand up for science on Monday and accuse Gov. Rick Scott of being anti-science:\u00c2\u00a0In Senate floor speech, Bill Nelson takes aim at Rick Scott and GOP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwar on science\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

Nelson took aim at a bill sponsored by Naples House Republican Bryon Donald that will allow anyone in the state to challenge and possibly change what kids are learning in public schools. The senator said he feared that could chill discussion on climate change in Florida schools.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sea-level rise in South Florida is a fact,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he began.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately, Nelson makes a mistake here:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But if there are some who object to that climate science, then, under this new law just signed by the governor, they are going to be able to object to that subject being taught in our public schools and a single hearing officer will determine \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a single hearing officer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will determine \u00e2\u20ac\u201d lord only knows who that officer is appointed by \u00e2\u20ac\u201d that single person will determine under the new law if the objection is justified and they can force a local public school to remove the subject from its curriculum.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He’s right to be worried about who that hearing officer could be. But the hearing officer doesn’t make any final decisions. He or she only makes a recommendation to the school board, which makes the final decision. Read the final version of the law here<\/a> (pdf file). Also, it’s unlikely that this law will be used to remove subjects from the curriculum. The curriculum is mainly driven by the state science standards. Instead, school boards could alter what’s in instructional materials, such as textbooks, online materials, workbooks, etc. In other words, evolution and climate change won’t be erased. Rather, those subjects might be watered down or “balanced” with other unscientific ideas (intelligent design or climate change denial arguments).<\/p>\n

For instance, the law’s authors and supporters said<\/a>:<\/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 [Florida Citizens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Alliance’s Keith Flaugh] said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that goal was repeated<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The science here is not proven on either side,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Flaugh said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are lots of scientists on both sides of that equation: Creationism versus the theory of evolution. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both theories. And all we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re asking for is both sides of the discussion in a balanced way be put in front of the students.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And it was repeated yet again<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not trying to ban books,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Keith Flaugh, founder of the Florida Citizens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Alliance, which pushed for that state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bill.<\/p>\n

He said his group is seeking balance in school instruction, including teaching both evolution and creationism and the various arguments about climate change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite Sen. Nelson’s error, we appreciate that he is aware of the law and its potential negative impact on science education. Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Senator from Florida Bill Nelson seized upon all of the press generated by his state’s new instructional materials law to stand up for science on Monday and accuse Gov. Rick Scott of being anti-science:\u00c2\u00a0In Senate floor speech, Bill Nelson … 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-JB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2924,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2924","url_meta":{"origin":2827,"position":0},"title":"David against the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Goliath","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida's new Instructional Materials law is now featured in an article in the AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) Explorer:\u00c2\u00a0Science Curricula Under Threat? The problem, according to those who think there is one, is in the first sentence of Florida House Bill 989. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6allowing a resident of a county to\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":2933,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2933","url_meta":{"origin":2827,"position":1},"title":"What’s in store for the next Florida legislative session?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The creationist, human-caused-climate-change-denying group Florida Citizens Alliance was successful in writing and getting passed a new law that dramatically impacts how instructional materials used in our schools can be challenged and changed -- in a bad way. (See the Instructional Materials bills '17 blog category if you don't know what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2793,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2793","url_meta":{"origin":2827,"position":2},"title":"The fight will now be won or lost where you live.","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately, the devious Instructional Materials bill, which creationists and climate change deniers absolutely love, is now signed into law by Governor Rick Scott. This means our fight is only just now beginning. Each and every one of us has to be on alert. You must keep an eye on your\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":2827,"position":3},"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":2798,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2798","url_meta":{"origin":2827,"position":4},"title":"Be informed. Be active.","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There are two new laws here in Florida that will potentially impact science education in detrimental ways. I'm, of course, talking about the Instructional Materials law and the Religious Expression in Schools law. Florida Citizens for Science has been in the trenches fighting these harmful laws for quite a while.\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":3147,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3147","url_meta":{"origin":2827,"position":5},"title":"The Florida House’s bad textbook bill now has a Senate companion","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida House Bill 827 (Instructional Materials), filed in November by Rep. Byron Donalds in preparation for the 2018 state legislative session proposes changes to several of our laws that govern the review and selection of instructional materials used in our public schools. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a Senate companion bill for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Textbooks"","block_context":{"text":"Textbooks","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827"}],"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=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2831,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions\/2831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}