Madfloridian's Journal - Florida House Speaker may consider bill to protect teachers who criticize evolution.

Rubio is Jeb's buddy, and he is the one behind the continued pressure to get the Bush Family stuff through the Florida House. He made these statements to the Florida Baptist Witness newsletter.

I guess I am not surprised they would keep pushing this issue, especially since they compromised and voted to water down the bill. They added the word "theory" as a sop to the religious right here.

Florida "placates" the religious right by adding the word "theory" on the final evolution vote.

The most vocal board members before the vote were Roberto Martinez, a Coral Gables attorney, and Donna Callaway, a retired Tallahassee principal. Both voted "No" -- but for very different reasons. Martinez wanted the standards adopted as written by the experts asked to devise them. He noted the National Academy of Sciences gave its approval to the original version. He said the last-minute option was diluted one created to "placate those people who had concerns about the evolution standards.

When you compromise with extremists they just keep wanting more from you. It never pays.

Marco Rubio

From the Florida Baptist Witness:

Rubio: Florida House open to legislative fix on evolution

TALLAHASSEE (FBW) – An evolution compromise approved on Feb. 19 by the State Board of Education was the best that could be achieved in that body but legislative action to protect academic freedom of teachers offering criticisms of Darwinian evolution is possible, House Speaker Marco Rubio told Florida Baptist Witness in a Feb. 20 interview.

Rubio said the Board of Education’s addition of “scientific theory of” before each reference to “evolution” in new science standards for Florida’s public schools was “the best fix available” with “the way those votes were lining up.”

Although he and other House leaders supported the theory compromise in a Feb. 19 letter to members of the Board of Education, Rubio said critics who believe explicit language protecting academic freedom is necessary “may be right.”

Picture courtesy of Ybor City Stogie

The institute that compares states on their education quality criticized Florida's Board of Education's recent vote on science standards.

Institute criticizes Florida's 'evolving' standards

A prominent institute that compares states on their education quality criticized Florida's Board of Education's recent vote on revamped science standards.

In a statement released today, a University of Virginia professor and the lead author of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's "The State of Science Standards 2005" called it a political move.

After several months of debate over the evolution portion of Florida's new standards - which set the tone for science curriculums in public schools - the board in a 4-3 vote this week added the phrase "scientific theory of" before evolution.

"The Board of Education's attempt at a compromise on the teaching of evolution is a political sop to a large and concerned population of Florida voters who believe that on the core issues of science, some other way of knowing (religion, perhaps) is equal or superior to science itself," said Paul Gross, a life science professor. "This may well be good politics. But it is not serious; and, so far as excellent science education is concerned, it is dishonest."

This is just plain embarrassing to me. I can not believe they caved in like this. I find it unbelievable that the Florida House will even think about getting a bill passed to protect teachers who don't want to follow state rules.

The religious right simply has too much power and influence here.