Topeka, Kan., Feb. 14 — In a 7-3 vote today, the Kansas State Board of Education overturned its 1999 decision to ban macroevolution and the age of the Earth and the universe, including the big-bang theory, from K-12 science classrooms. The vote overturns the board’s August 1999 decision to remove evolutionary concepts from the state science curriculum.

The new decision comes from a new school board. After school board elections in the fall of 2000, two anti-evolution board members lost their seats. Today’s vote will usher in science standards that include comprehensive evolutionary theory as one of the unifying concepts of biological science. Over the coming months the new standards will be used to develop tests that will be administered to students later this spring.

In response to the Board of Education’s vote in favor of returning evolution to Kansas’ science classrooms, statements of support were publicly released by: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

Laura Wright

For more information visit:
 

Statement of support jointly issued by AAAS, NAS, NRC and NSTA:http://www.nsta.org/pressrel/kansas_statement.asp

Kansas State Board of Education Web site:http://www.ksbe.state.ks.us/

Kansas Citizens for Science Web site: http://www.kcfs.org
 
 

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