Kansas Evolution/School Politics

[Peter Rauch]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 10:57:22 -0400
From: inthenews <inthenews at SIGMAXI.ORG>
To: SCIENCE-IN-THE-NEWS at LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Today's Headlines - July 26, 2000
...

EVOLUTION DEBATE IS HOT ISSUE IN KANSAS POLITICS
from The Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. - Not too long ago, the biggest complaint about the Kansas
Board of Education was that no one knew exactly what it did or who served on
it.

A lack of visibility isn't the board's problem now, after its approval last
year of new science testing standards that de-emphasize evolution. The
decision has become the hottest issue in Kansas politics, with unprecedented
attention and spending in the campaigns for board seats.

The Aug. 1 primaries are crucial because the makeup of the board could
decide the fate of the science standards; five of the 10 board seats will be
filled in the November election.

Conservative Republicans in 1999 led the board in its 6-4 vote to approve
the standards, with moderate Republicans and Democrats dissenting. The
standards encourage school districts to downplay the importance of evolution
and omit the big-bang theory of the universe's origin.

[More on this in...]
http://www.nandotimes.com/cb/st/healthscience/story/0,4630,500232291-500337439-501929096-0,00.html