The Kansas State Board of Education's adoption of science standards that downplay evolution led three national organizations to reject the board's request to use copywrited materials.
Just when it appeared controversy about evolution in Kansas public schools had subsided, three national organizations lit another fuse.
On Thursday, the organizations declined to grant the Kansas State Board of Education permission to use copyrighted materials in the publication of new statewide science testing standards that de-emphasize evolution.
The National Research Council, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science Teachers Assn. withdrew tentative approval after reviewing standards adopted by the state board in August.
Organization leaders concluded the state board's selective use of copyrighted passages would distort the full content of the materials.
"We cannot allow groups like the Kansas State Board of Education to grossly misrepresent the vision of quality science education," said Gerry Wheeler, NSTA executive director.
Board Chair Linda Holloway of Shawnee said she was disappointed but not surprised. She said the organizations didn't grasp the board's intent in writing science standards that would be the basis of statewide testing of students in 2001.
"Those organizations have incorrectly assumed that because certain aspects of evolution are not referred to directly in the standards the board is decreeing that they may not be taught," she said. "In fact, the action of the board gives local school districts the discretion to explore any or all of the theories surrounding evolution and origins."
"It has nothing to do with local control versus nonlocal control," Wheeler countered. "It has to do with good science versus bad science."
The Lawrence school board has endorsed unanimously the continued teaching of evolution in district classrooms.
Greg Burg, who teaches undergraduate biology at Kansas University, said the three organizations were justified in denying the state board use of the material.
He said the state board made a mistake by rejecting science standards prepared by a committee of Kansas educators and adopting a version that de-emphasizes theories that serve as a foundation of modern biology.
"They've taken upon themselves to say, 'We know better than scientists what should be emphasized or not,'" Burg said. "Standards set forth by the committee ... were exceptionally well done."
The state board meets Oct. 11-12 in DeSoto and will discuss how to rewrite the science standards to avoid copyright problems.
-- Tim Carpenter's phone message number is 832-7155. His e-mail address is tcarpenter@ljworld.com.
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