The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has a new post about Antiscience legislation in Colorado, which informs us:
House Bill 13-1089 (PDF), introduced in the Colorado House of Representatives on January 16, 2013, and assigned to the House Committees on Education and Appropriations, would create “Academic Freedom Acts” for both K-12 public schools and institutes of higher education in the state of Colorado.
It’s been three years since that state had to deal with the madness of creationism. We posted about that earlier incident here: Colorado’s Creationism & Theocracy Bill. It was the work of state senator Dave Schultheis and it died in committee, as did a similar bill he proposed in 2007.
Okay, let’s take a look at House Bill 13-1089. There are two parts to this thing. The first is titled “Academic Freedom Act.” The annoying all-caps style is a gift from the Colorado legislature, and the bold font was added by us:
Legislative declaration.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY HEREBY FINDS AND DECLARES THAT AN IMPORTANT PURPOSE OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IS TO INFORM STUDENTS ABOUT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE AND TO HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS NECESSARY TO BECOME INTELLIGENT, PRODUCTIVE, AND SCIENTIFICALLY INFORMED CITIZENS. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY FURTHER FINDS THAT THE TEACHING OF SOME SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS, SUCH AS BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION, THE CHEMICAL ORIGINS OF LIFE, GLOBAL WARMING, AND HUMAN CLONING, CAN CAUSE CONTROVERSY AND THAT SOME TEACHERS MAY BE UNSURE OF THE EXPECTATIONS CONCERNING HOW THEY MAY PRESENT INFORMATION ON SUCH SUBJECTS.
Academic freedoms – notice.
(1) THE STATE BOARD, LOCAL BOARDS OF EDUCATION, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS, AND TEACHERS WITHIN A PUBLIC SCHOOL SHALL ENDEAVOR TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WITHIN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS THAT ENCOURAGES STUDENTS TO EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS, LEARN ABOUT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE, DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS, AND RESPOND APPROPRIATELY AND RESPECTFULLY TO DIFFERENCES OF OPINION ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES. THE EDUCATIONAL AUTHORITIES IN COLORADO SHALL ALSO ENDEAVOR TO ASSIST TEACHERS TO FIND MORE EFFECTIVE WAYS TO PRESENT SCIENCE CURRICULUM WHERE IT ADDRESSES SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSIES. TOWARD THIS END, PUBLIC SCHOOL AUTHORITIES AND ADMINISTRATORS MUST PERMIT TEACHERS TO HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND, ANALYZE, CRITIQUE, AND REVIEW IN AN OBJECTIVE MANNER THE SCIENTIFIC STRENGTHS AND SCIENTIFIC WEAKNESSES OF EXISTING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES COVERED IN A GIVEN COURSE.
(2) THE STATE BOARD, ANY LOCAL BOARD OF EDUCATION, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR, OR TEACHER IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL MUST NOT PROHIBIT ANY PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER IN THIS STATE FROM HELPING STUDENTS UNDERSTAND, ANALYZE, CRITIQUE, AND REVIEW IN AN OBJECTIVE MANNER THE SCIENTIFIC STRENGTHS AND SCIENTIFIC WEAKNESSES OF EXISTING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES COVERED IN A GIVEN COURSE.
(3) THIS ARTICLE ONLY PROTECTS THE TEACHING OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION, AND THIS ARTICLE MUST NOT BE CONSTRUED TO PROMOTE ANY RELIGIOUS OR NONRELIGIOUS DOCTRINE, PROMOTE DISCRIMINATION FOR OR AGAINST A PARTICULAR SET OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OR NONBELIEFS, OR PROMOTE DISCRIMINATION FOR OR AGAINST RELIGION OR NONRELIGION.
What can we say? The “legislative declaration” is all lies — there is no scientific “controversy” over evolution, and certainly none about cloning. Does any school teach cloning? Nor is any teacher confused about how to teach evolution. This bill is about none of those things. It’s based on the anti-science, anti-evolution, pro-creationism Academic Freedom Act promoted by the Discoveroids — described in the Cast of Characters section of our Intro page. We’ve already critiqued their model bill here: Curmudgeon’s Guide to “Academic Freedom” Laws. In that same post we also recommended countermeasures.
There is a second part to this Colorado bill. It’s called the “Higher Education Academic Freedom Act.” It essentially repeats all of the above, but it has some wording changes referring to “institutions of higher education in Colorado.”
You can follow the progress of this bill at this link: Summarized History for Bill Number HB13-1089, but it’s clumsy. First you have to select the “bill range” to House Bills 1051-1100 and then click the “GO” button. After that, scroll down to 13-1089 and click on “History.” You’ll learn that this bill was introduced on 16 January and has been referred the House Education and Appropriations committees.
Who are the geniuses behind this mess? In the House the bill is sponsored by Humphrey, Buck, Everett, Holbert, Joshi, Nordberg, Saine, and Wilson. Since Humphrey’s name is first, we assume that this thing is primarily his responsibility. Here’s his page at the legislature’s website: Stephen Humphrey.
There’s no information about him there, so we found the About Steve section of his campaign website. He’s a former cop who is currently a mental health counselor and a marriage and family therapist. We’re also told “First and foremost Steve Humphrey is a Christian committed to the timeless and eternal principles that honor the God who created us equal and make for a good life and thriving communities.”
In the Senate (yes, the bill seems to be there too) the thing is sponsored by Renfroe, Grantham, Harvey, and Hill. We haven’t looked up anyone but Humphrey, but we assume all the others are equally qualified to guide their state’s science education.
The Colorado legislature convened on 09 January and is scheduled to adjourn on 08 May.
Copyright © 2013. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.
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The Sensuous Curmudgeon 
Nothing like cut-and-paste legislation. We in Colorado are of course hopeful that this will suffer the same fate as previously, but I have already begun to spread the word that we need to watch and to act if necessary. Thanks Curmy and NCSE for keeping up with this bs.
If this legislation is enacted in Colorado, and similar bills are put into place in other states, there is the possibility that conservative federal judges appointed over the previous three decades by Republican president’s will rule favorably so as to permit their implementation at least in the short term. One outcome, should this happen, is ignorance of what constitutes epistemology will be exacerbated within public schools and in families already presently misguided. On the opposite side of that coin, many students may well be encouraged to ask the right questions, and not settle for wrong answers, and thereby begin and/or hasten their abandonment of woo. Greater intransigence among the faithful vs increased numbers in the community of both non-theists, and doubters with the potential to bolt the flock sooner or later..
I am certainly opposed to allowing this legislation to become practice without exhausting every avenue of opposition, but I can’t help but expect there will be a quite unexpected backfire effect proponent’s either do not anticipate, or fail to accurately estimate.
“I have only two candidates for infinity: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe.” …. Albert Einstein