As a former principal of a science magnet school, Jim McNiece is glad the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a Kansas nonprofit group’s lawsuit claiming that science standards for Kansas public schools promote atheism.

"They’re academic standards, clearly, for a citizenry that needs to be educated and well-versed in science today," said McNiece, R-Wichita, chairman of the Kansas State Board of Education that adopted the science standards in 2013. "I’ve been very supportive of inquiring, research-based, project-based science education, which is what the Next Generation Science Standards are about."

"It’s not about giving you answers," McNiece continued. "The new standards are about you understanding the processes that lead you to answers about what’s happening in the world."

The original complaint from Citizens for Objective Public Education, or COPE, contends the science standards, as they relate to evolution, aren’t religiously neutral because they permit "only materialistic/atheistic answers to ultimate religious questions."

"I’m very thankful that the Supreme Court has made this decision. I’m very happy that they’re not going to hear it," said state board member Carolyn Campbell, D-Topeka, who voted for the science standards three years ago. "I struggle to understand how people can decide that the science standards is promoting atheism or just whatever their thoughts are. We’re just trying to educate our children so that they have a well-rounded understanding of science."

Without comment, the high court on Monday rejected COPE’s petition that challenged the science standards as they relate to evolution and climate change. The group has said the standards infringe on the religious rights of parents, children and taxpayers in that they "will have the effect of causing Kansas public schools to establish and endorse a non-theistic religious worldview in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution."

McNiece said although the Next Generation Science Standards don’t include concepts about creationism, he said that doesn’t mean the theory isn’t discussed by science teachers across the state.

"It’s not that they can’t talk about it," he said. "They’re not prohibited from talking about it if students ask questions. It probably happens in the classrooms on a more regular basis than people realize but it’s also part of the parents’ responsibility. We still believe parents are the primary educators of their children."

According to a statement posted on COPE’s website, the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit were eight families with children enrolled in Kansas schools and a family who represents Kansas taxpayers.

COPE had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review their complaint after a ruling in April by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver affirmed a federal judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit.

The appeals court agreed with U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree that opponents of the standards had no standing to sue because they could not show an injury.

A call to a COPE spokesperson for comment on the high court’s decision wasn’t returned Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Angela Deines at (785) 295-1143 or Twitter @AngelaDeines.