{"id":3240,"date":"2018-03-12T10:28:19","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T14:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3240"},"modified":"2018-03-12T10:28:19","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T14:28:19","slug":"final-2018-legislative-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3240","title":{"rendered":"Final 2018 legislative update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We were deeply worried when the 2018 Florida legislative session kicked off because several bills had been filed that would have directly and negatively impacted science education. A pair of Controversial Theories bills (otherwise known as Academic Freedom bills) would have required in district-adopted science standards that: “Controversial theories and concepts must be taught in a factual, objective, and balanced manner.” Another pair of bills would have yet again changed how instructional materials are reviewed and selected, allowing for many more opportunities for creationists and climate change deniers to improperly influence the process.<\/p>\n

The legislative session is now over and we’re happy to report that all of those bills died. The controversial theories bills gained no traction at all. The instructional materials bills did meet with some success in committees, but didn’t make it to the floor of either chamber. And we’re very encouraged to see that some lawmakers voiced our concerns about the potential impacts on science materials. That was awesome to see!<\/p>\n

I’ve now updated our Issues Pages on these bills\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Controversial Theories\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bills 2018<\/a> and\u00c2\u00a0Textbook Challenges Bill 2018<\/a>. Despite the good news, I have to admit that the bills’ demise had little to do with our efforts to oppose them. Our voices are starting to be heard, but we’re just not loud enough. We need your help when these bills pop up again next year.<\/p>\n

But we’re not done. We still are tracking the progress of the Constitution Revision Commission<\/a> and staying on the alert as school districts approve their new science textbook selections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other words, there is still plenty of work to be done.<\/p>\n

Stay alert and stay active.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were deeply worried when the 2018 Florida legislative session kicked off because several bills had been filed that would have directly and negatively impacted science education. A pair of Controversial Theories bills (otherwise known as Academic Freedom bills) would … 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-Qg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3395,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3395","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":0},"title":"“Controversial Theories” bill returns to Florida senate","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A bill was pre-filed for the 2019 legislative session in the Florida senate that would impact the standards for all academic subjects, especially science. The bill proposes allowing school districts to adopt their own sets of educational standards if they are equal to or more rigorous than the state's educational\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Controversial Theories bill 2019"","block_context":{"text":"Controversial Theories bill 2019","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=36"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2993,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2993","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":1},"title":"Antiscience Bills Update 12\/8\/17","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a quick update on the bills we're watching in the Florida legislature. The legislative session doesn't actually kick off until Jan. 8 but bills can be pre-filed in preparation for the session and those bills can be assigned to committees and possibly even heard and voted on during committee\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":3403,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3403","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":2},"title":"News Roundup 1\/20\/19","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"There are several items in the news of interest to us here at Florida Citizens for Science. We'll start with the budding coverage of a bill filed in our state legislature that could directly impact science education here in the Sunshine State. (See our issues page\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Controversial Theories\/Rigorous Standards\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bills 2019\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3444,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3444","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":3},"title":"Getting ready for another wild ride in Tallahassee","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The state legislative session kicks off Tuesday. We here at Florida Citizens for Science are as busy as can be as we monitor several bad bills filed in the legislature that can negatively impact science education. Additionally, the review of all academic standards directed by Gov. Ron DeSantis has a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3374,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3374","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":4},"title":"It’s Going to be Ugly","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As the dust settles from the mid-term elections, we're starting to see what is in store for science education and education in general here in the Sunshine State. It's going to be ugly. In preparation for the next Florida legislative session, due to start March 5, 2019, House and Senate\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3374#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3217,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3217","url_meta":{"origin":3240,"position":5},"title":"Discovery Institute: defending quality science education is “un-American”","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida hasn't been on the Discovery Institute's radar lately but an article in Nature got them riled up a bit. The DI's rant \"Shock: Florida Laws Would Give Floridians a Say on Science Education\" complains about the Nature piece \"Florida residents could soon get the power to alter science classes.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240"}],"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=3240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3245,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3240\/revisions\/3245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}