The American Institute of Biological Sciences expressed its opposition to Oklahoma’s Senate Bill 1765 (document), which, if enacted, would deprive administrators of the ability to prevent teachers from miseducating students about “scientific controversies.” Although no scientific topics are specifically identified as controversial, the fact that the primary sponsor of SB 1765 is Josh Brecheen (R-District 6), who introduced similar legislation that directly targeted evolution in two previous legislative sessions, is suggestive. The bill is presently before the Senate Education Committee.
AIBS’s letter, dated February 10, 2014, and addressed to all the members of the Senate Education Committee, described the bill as “bad for science and bad for science education,” adding, “If enacted, SB 1765 would merely offer a vehicle for advocates of particular non-scientific belief systems to introduce their personal ideologies into the curriculum,” and observing, “There is no legitimate scientific controversy about evolution or climate change. Scientists have, and continue to, empirically test these concepts and with each test the evidence grows stronger and our understanding more thorough.”