The Senate Education Committee has learned a bill it agreed to sponsor appears to allow the teaching of creationism in public schools.
Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, said the committee gave a quick stamp of approval to the bill Thursday after being told it pertained to "academic freedom for teachers."
"It mentioned nothing about the origin of life," Umbarger said Friday. "Not until later in the evening did I realize I'd been handed a hot potato."
Sen. Larry Salmans, R-Hanston, said he took a seminar last summer on "Intellectual Intelligent Design." Other attendees asked him to introduce the bill, which he said had been introduced in other states.
"They think the scientific method is being ignored," Salmans said. "It's neutral with respect to creationism or natural origins. It's about academic freedom."
Though the bill doesn't explicitly mention evolution or creation science, it does require schools to "encourage the presentation of scientific evidence supporting the origins of life and its diversity, objectively and without religious, naturalistic or philosophic bias or assumption." The bill also would prohibit schools from punishing teachers who deviated from curriculum requirements.
Just three years ago, Kansas became a target of international ridicule when the Kansas State Board of Education rewrote science testing standards to place less emphasis on evolution. The decision suggested to many scientists that the board's majority wanted to either keep evolution from being taught or at least teach alternatives based in religion.
With new members elected because of the political furor, the board reversed the evolution decision in 2001.
Umbarger said the Senate wasn't the place to debate evolution.
"Quite honestly, that's an issue that, if it's going to be dealt with, it should be dealt with at the State Board of Education," Umbarger said.
Both Umbarger and Salmans said the bill is probably dead.
"I expect we're not going to have the time to run it," Umbarger said. "We're not going to have time to have hearings on the bill."
Salmans said: "I don't think it's going anywhere. You're chasing a dead rabbit."