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Topeka — Science standards that criticize evolution could be in place by this summer, guiding Kansas students in the upcoming school year.

State Board of Education Chairman Steve Abrams, the head of a conservative majority on the board that favors criticism of evolution, said Tuesday the group would present a report to the full board in June.

"We hope to have them (science standards) adopted this summer," Abrams said. He didn't say which set of standards would be adopted.

But Abrams presided over a controversial three days of hearings last week in which a parade of witnesses hand-picked by "intelligent design" proponents testified about flaws in evolution.

Mainstream scientists boycotted the event, saying it was simply a show for intelligent design, which proposes that the complexity of life is evidence that something created existence. Mainstream scientists say such ideas belong in philosophy or religion classes, not science classes.

The science standards hearings will end Thursday with one day set aside for Topeka attorney Pedro Irigonegaray to make a case for the pro-evolution standards. The final day of hearings begins at 8:30 a.m. at Topeka's Memorial Hall.

Longtime controversy

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The hearings have attracted international attention. Kansas has long been a battleground over the teaching of evolution.

In 1999, a conservative majority on the State Board of Education approved science standards that de-emphasized evolution. In 2000, the majority swung back to moderates, who reinstated evolution as the foundational theory of biology.

State board member Bill Wagnon, a Democrat from Topeka whose district includes Lawrence, said those who wanted the biblical version of creation taught in public schools were spoiling for a fight over evolution.

He said students were arguing with teachers more whenever evolution is broached in class.

"It's very destructive of the trust between a teacher and the kids entering a learning situation. That's what bothers me the most about this whole situation," he said.

Wagnon said he had no doubt the standards criticizing evolution would be adopted by the conservatives.

"I don't think anyone's mind has been changed," he said.

Public debate

Fallout continued over the battle during the state Board of Education's public comment period Tuesday.

John Burch, of Lawrence, said the science standards that criticize evolution would hurt the state's progress in the field of bioscience. Kansas has recently launched a $500 million effort to attract cutting-edge research.

Burch told the board that teaching intelligent design or opening the door to nonscientific theories in public school science classes was "just plain wrong."

He said intelligent design should be taught as part of a science and philosophy course.

Kirk Fast, a parent of two elementary school students in Ozawkie, agreed with Burch, urging the board to adopt standards that adhere to national guidelines on evolution.

"I hope this board will chose wisdom over politics," he said.

But John Richard Schrock, director of biology education at Emporia State University, said he didn't believe the standards that criticize evolution would have a negative effect on Kansas students.

He said Kansas had a strong tradition of producing science scholars, and that would continue.

His major problem with the standards under consideration is that they have no guidelines for teaching zoology, microbiology, anatomy and botany.

"It's odd how some of the most important things get overlooked," he said.

But Steve Case, an assistant research professor at Kansas University and co-chairman of the science standards committee that wrote the pro-evolution report, said guidelines to teach those specific areas should be put together by the local districts.