{"id":3010,"date":"2017-12-10T17:05:13","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T22:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=3010"},"modified":"2017-12-10T17:05:13","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T22:05:13","slug":"news-roundup-121017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3010","title":{"rendered":"News Roundup 12\/10\/17"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell wrote a piece about the new instructional materials bill we have in Florida as well as the pre-filed bill that’s waiting for the next legislative session: Book-banning \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a crusade for Florida’s simplest minds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And now, a new bill would allow activists to suggest new books students read instead \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and require school boards to solicit bids for the book, no matter how nutty it is.<\/p>\n

You want kids to read a book about why the earth is flat? Or how to plan a school shooting? It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter. Under this new bill, any request would require districts to solicit bids.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Schools used to be meant for education. Now, they are battlefields for political gamesmanship. Children are merely the pawns.<\/p>\n

It started last year when Republican legislators, with help from some Democrats, wanted to embolden the book-banning set.<\/p>\n

Responding to the anti-evolution crowd, they passed a law making it easier for citizens \u00e2\u20ac\u201d even those who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even have children in public schools \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to challenge books they find offensive.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

And once again, even though [Naples Republican Byron] Donalds said his bill was designed to empower taxpayers who fund schools, his bill wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allow the same book-meddling at taxpayer-funded voucher schools.<\/p>\n

His resume, by the way, lists him as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a founding board member\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of a charter school in Naples.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WFSU did a radio piece on the new instructional materials law<\/a>. The story starts at 19:55.<\/p>\n

A new Florida law allows any state resident to challenge what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being taught in public schools. A handful of complaints have been filed in school districts statewide since the law took effect in July. Cathy Carter with member station WUSF in Tampa spoke with Renalia (ren-NAIL-ee-uh) DuBose (duh-BOZE), a professor at W-M-U Cooley Law School in Tampa about what the new Florida textbook challenge law is all about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Florida Citizens for Science member and Gainesville resident Jiri Hulcr had an opinion piece published in the Gainesville Sun about her experience speaking in front of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission. She was there to oppose the proposal to allow public money to fund religious organizations (such as voucher schools that teach creationism instead of evolution).\u00c2\u00a0Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use taxpayer money to fund religious organizations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The meeting was eye-opening. What I witnessed was not prudent and unbiased deliberation, but a show scripted for public consumption. Several commissioners did not even pretend to represent the people, and instead were justifying a clear agenda. Commissioner John Stemberger, for example, was beaming with excitement as he proceeded to lecture about the benefits of connecting, not separating, church and state.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Faith is a public good … Our job [as the commission] is not to be successful, it is to be faithful,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stemberger said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here’s a news story in the Orlando Sentinel about private schools that take state money:\u00c2\u00a0Florida school voucher reforms proposed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two people from the audience, both in favor of the scholarship programs, were allowed to speak before Rep. Chris Latvala, chairman of the PreK-12 Innovation Subcommittee, said the meeting was over.<\/p>\n

Catherine Baer, of the Tea Party Network and part of a coalition of education advocacy organizations called Common Ground, said she had hoped to speak.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want my tax dollars being used to teach religion,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said after the meeting. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not our government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Nearly 80 percent of students on the scholarships attend religious schools, with some teaching creationism instead of evolution.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A guest op-ed in the Northwest Florida Daily News shows a shocking ignorance of basic science. The writer obviously never learned a thing about science in his school days:\u00c2\u00a0Science does not represent truth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The theory of evolution that is accepted by science as fact is an untruth and cannot be proven unless you make huge jumps in conclusions based on a guess, pure fiction based on acceptable fiction.<\/p>\n

If you say DNA never dies but can be mutated by circumstances in the environment or manipulated by outside aspects, and you called that evolution, you might be right. But to jump to the conclusion that a whale grew legs and became a dinosaur, or a monkey is mankind\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relative, is more than a wild guess. It is not based on anything close to real truth. Truth does not come from educated idiots and there are many.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And last but not least there is this story about voucher schools, featuring some information from Florida:\u00c2\u00a0Voucher Schools Championed By Betsy DeVos Can Teach Whatever They Want. Turns Out They Teach Lies.<\/a><\/p>\n

When Balzak attended a secular college in 2009, it was a shock to the system, she said. In her first environmental science class, she learned about climate change \u00e2\u20ac\u2022 a concept she had been taught was a hoax.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I took my first real science class, a million light bulbs went off,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Balzak, who had only been taught creationism in school. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everything finally made sense.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The experience made Balzak feel robbed of a fact-based education.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Balzak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s former school, Coral Springs Christian Academy [Florida], includes a statement of faith in its parent-student handbook, which is posted on its website: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We believe God created the entire universe out of nothing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell wrote a piece about the new instructional materials bill we have in Florida as well as the pre-filed bill that’s waiting for the next legislative session: Book-banning \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a crusade for Florida’s simplest minds. And … 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":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-My","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3151,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3151","url_meta":{"origin":3010,"position":0},"title":"And the sausage-making begins","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"We're tracking several bills in the Florida legislature that have a high potential to be bad news for science education (see our issues page for the whole list of projects we're tracking). The legislative session officially kicks off tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 9) but already one of the bills we're concerned\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":3147,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3147","url_meta":{"origin":3010,"position":1},"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":[]},{"id":3202,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3202","url_meta":{"origin":3010,"position":2},"title":"The creationists and climate change deniers are winning in Florida","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever read the children's book \"If you Give a Mouse a Cookie\"? Asking for one thing leads to asking for another and another and another ... Florida creationists and climate change deniers asked for more citizen input into instructional materials selection for our public schools last year. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3202#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/biology-creation-230x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2318,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2318","url_meta":{"origin":3010,"position":3},"title":"Textbook trouble: history and sex ed","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lee County school board will hear from concerned citizens this week about the content of history textbooks under consideration for adoption. Board documents show nine objections have been filed for a sixth-grade world history text published by Pearson. Among the complaints for the book, called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153my (sic) World History,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2318#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2955,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2955","url_meta":{"origin":3010,"position":4},"title":"The controversy “will never be over”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinel's School Zone blog posted a short story about the new \"controversial theories\" bill recently filed by Sen. Dennis Baxley:\u00c2\u00a0Sen. Baxley files school bill to require 'controversial' science topics be taught in 'balanced' way. State Sen. Dennis Baxley, who once said controversy about evolution being taught in public\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Controversial Theories bill 2017\/18"","block_context":{"text":"Controversial Theories bill 2017\/18","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=34"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2011,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2011","url_meta":{"origin":3010,"position":5},"title":"Proposed changes to textbook selection process","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"State Sen. Alan Hays filed a bill that will change the way textbooks are selected in Florida. If approved, the bill would give local school boards full control over the process and the state Department of Education would have no role. The Gradebook blog notes the bill's filing: Florida senator\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2011#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010"}],"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=3010"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3012,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3010\/revisions\/3012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}