AUSTIN, Texas - This summer the Texas State Board of Education will choose from a list of proposals by publishers, recently made public, for classroom instructional materials for new science standards it adopted two years ago.



Dan Quinn with the Texas Freedom Network, one of the groups examining the proposals, says some of the materials listed read like weapons in the culture wars. He points to a New Mexico-based publisher who's offering an online science curriculum with a decidedly religious perspective.



"The arguments are straight-up intelligent-design creationism: An intelligent force has to be behind the development of life."



Federal courts have blocked such science materials in the past. Quinn predicts the same will happen in Texas, costing the state big legal bills, if the board attempts to adopt creationist-based materials.



He says most of the proposals he's reviewed don't appear to be anti-science, but he wouldn't be surprised if the board approved some of what he calls "19th-century" perspectives.



"This particular state board has adopted curriculum materials that downplay the importance of slavery in starting the Civil War, that claim the Constitution does not protect separation of church and state in the country. Nothing really surprises us anymore."



The new science standards were developed by the elected Board of Education to allow alternatives to evolution in the classroom.



The Texas Freedom Network conducted a poll last year that found Texans overwhelmingly supported scholars, rather than politicians, making decisions about public school curricula.



Proposal samples can be found on the Texas Education Agency website. The state board plans to hold a public hearing and vote on the new materials in July.



The Texas Education Agency website, with proposal samples, is

www.tea.state.tx.us



The Texas Freedom Network lists other samples at www.tfn.org



