Diane Carroll, "State board to hear debate on evolution" (2005)

State board to hear debate on evolution

By DIANE CARROLL

"The Kansas City Star"

The new conservative majority on the Kansas Board of Education showed its strength Wednesday by altering the way revisions in the state's science standards will be reviewed.

The board was scheduled to vote on a contract to send a draft of the standards to an outside reviewer, a procedure it routinely follows before adopting standards in any area of the curriculum.

Instead, conservative Republican chairman Steve Abrams of Arkansas City surprised moderates by proposing that experts be brought in to debate the areas of disagreement regarding the teaching of evolution. The board voted 6-4 in favor of Abrams' resolution, which calls for the experts to address a subcommittee that the board appointed Wednesday.

A 26-member committee has been working to revise the science standards since June. It presented its first draft to the state board in December. Also that month, eight committee members offered a minority report that called for changes regarding the teaching of evolution. The eight contend students should be taught not only the strengths of evolution but also its weaknesses.

"We have been urging this for a long time," John Calvert, who is serving as the attorney for the eight, said of the plan to bring in experts to debate the issue.

Moderate Republican Sue Gamble of Shawnee said conservatives — who took control in January — would not allow moderates a 10-minute break to review the resolution.

"We didn't know it was coming," Gamble said.

Conservative board member John Bacon of Olathe said conservatives wanted one of the four moderates to sit on the three-member subcommittee. But none would do it, he said.

That means that three conservatives, led by Abrams, will set up the meeting or meetings with national experts. Bacon said he expected defenders of evolution would be asked to bring speakers to support their view, while those critical of evolution would do the same.

The meetings, or "hearings" as they are called in the resolution, will be open to the public, but the public will not be allowed to speak. The subcommittee is to report back to the full committee by June.

The resolution also calls for the state to pay the expenses of the experts who come to testify.

Democrat Bill Wagnon of Topeka said the resolution approved by the conservatives undercuts the work of the 26-member science-writing committee.

"It's just outrageous," Wagnon said. "It's an egregious and raw naked use of power."

Abrams could not be reached for comment.

Gamble said she was particularly upset about the part of the resolution that calls for the proposal from the eight committee members to be posted on the state Department of Education Web site. The proposal contains factual errors, she said, and misrepresents the views of at least one national defender of evolution.

Bacon said he had faith in the work of the science-writing committee until December, when it presented its first draft to the board. The draft did not include any of the concerns raised by the eight committee members.

A spokesman for the state Department of Education said the public hearings taking place now before the science-writing committee would not be disrupted because of the board's action. A hearing that was canceled in Topeka on Tuesday because of snow has been rescheduled for Feb. 23.

To reach Diane Carroll, call

(816) 234-7704 or send email to [email protected].