Bill wants climate change, evolution ‘alternate theories’ taught in public schools
A conservative Republican state senator with a history of introducing controversial bills has pre-filed a 2019 legislative proposal to require public school districts teach “alternative theories on climate change and evolution.”
Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Naples, filed Senate Bill 330 this month. It would revise the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards requirements for instructional materials for science topics that district school superintendents annually certifies.
Baxley said SB 330 is not an attack on science but an attempt to provide school districts with more academic freedom in how they teach science to K-12 students.
"The purpose of this bill is to allow people to question and challenge certain ideas rather than saying 'This is the way it is,'" Baxley said. "We pursue all kinds of diversity but then we are like, 'Don't dare question anything that is set science,' and the whole pursuit of science, for example, is pursue everything. There was a time in science that the world was flat."
Baxley submitted a similar bill last year and is the author of the 2005 "Stand Your Ground" law. He is well-known in the state as a proud “son of the Confederacy” who frequently speaks before Confederate descendant groups.
For the legislative session that begins March 5, Baxley is a Senate co-sponsor of HB 195, the "Study of the Bible and Religion Act" filed by pro-Trump Democrat Rep. Kimberly Daniels of Jacksonville, which would require each of the state’s 67 public school districts to offer elective courses in religion, Hebrew Scriptures and the Bible.
Baxley has also signed onto the senate version of HB 97, the "Soldiers' and Heroes' Monuments and Memorials Protection Act" sponsored by Rep. Mike Hill, R-Pensacola, which would make it illegal to remove a public monument – including those deemed related to the Confederacy – for any reason other than repairs or relocation to an equally prominent place.
Under SB 330, "Controversial theories and concepts shall be taught in a factual, objective and balanced manner.” The bill’s language seeks to revise the "minimum baseline standards" students are taught in Florida public schools.
Baxley said he got the idea for the bill from a Naples-area grassroots Christian group, the Florida Citizens' Alliance (FCA), founded by retired IBM executive Keith Flaugh to stop Florida from signing onto Common Core educational standards.
In an array of publications and statements, the FCA claims "cultural Marxism," "LGBTQ values" and "Islam" is infiltrating the public school system. It annually publishes a list of books it wants school boards to ban. Among the 60 it wants removed from Florida school shelves is "Angela’s Ashes," "A Clockwork Orange" and books written by Toni Morrison.
The FCA also drafted the initial language for HB 989, a bill adopted last year that allows parents, and any residents, to challenge the use of textbooks and instructional materials they find objectionable at an independent hearing.
The proposal is certain to draw criticism and be vigorously opposed if it makes it out of committee for floor votes in either chamber. The National Center for Science was among the first lodge an objection to the bill in a news release Tuesday.
"Although there is no indication in the bill about which 'theories and concepts' are deemed to be 'controversial,' much less any guidance about adjudicating disputes about which are and which are not, it is suggestive that the bill's sole sponsor, Dennis Baxley, has a history of anti-evolution advocacy," the California-based group said.
https://www.watchdog.org/florida/bill-w ... 44a2d.html
