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Evolution Bill Quietly Filed In State Senate

Tribune file photo (2007)

The discussion on how to deal with evolution in Florida science classrooms reached the Legislature in 2008.

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 27, 2009

Updated: 03/27/2009 01:02 pm

TALLAHASSEE - State Sen Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville has quietly filed legislation that would change the way Florida schools teach Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

And though it has yet to have its first hearing, the bill has the science community is up in arms.

You may remember this hot-button issue from 2008, when Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, and Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, pushed similar legislation after the state Board of Education explicitly mandated the teaching of the scientific theories of biological and chemical evolution.

This language in this year's bill from Wise is pretty similar to the version pushed last year by Hays – not banning the teaching of evolution, but allowing teachers to question it in science class. Storms had focused her version more on job protections for teachers who criticized the theory.

Here's what Wise's bill would require: "A thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution."

The Florida Academy of Science says the bill "leaves the door open for the introduction in the public school curriculum of nonscientific and covertly religious doctrines."

In other words, here we go again. Or not, given the super-tight timeframe that Wise has to actually get the bill heard this late in the session. To date, there is no House version of the bill.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.

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