Kate Royals

The Clarion-Ledger

A Mississippi lawmaker wants to strengthen a public school teacher’s ability to express beliefs that challenge climate change and evolution, among other subjects.

Rep. Mark Formby, R-Picayune, said a constituent told him a teacher had been questioned after bringing up the theory of creationism, or the religious belief that the universe originated from acts of divine creation.

“I just don’t want my teachers punished in any form or fashion for bringing creationism into the debate. Lots of us believe in creationism,” Formby, the chairman of the House Revenue and Expenditure committee, said. “To say that creationism as a theory is any less valuable than any other theory that nobody can scientifically prove I just think is being close-minded.”

Current state law says that school board officials and administrators are prohibited from disallowing teachers from discussing and answering questions from students about the origins of life.

House Bill 50 states that schools should help teachers find ways to address subjects that “may cause debate and disputation. Toward this end, teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught …”

“Biological evolution, chemical origins of life, global warming and human cloning” are listed as subjects that could warrant teachers to introduce alternative theories to students.

While the bill states objective debates should be allowed, Formby said he hopes the bill would allow teachers to express their opinions as well.

“If a teacher believes in global warming, she should be able to say ‘I believe in global warming,’ then if she believes the Earth was created by a Supreme Being, that maybe there are other theories than the big bang theory where there was nothing, then nothing exploded and created something.”

There are no punishments laid out in the bill for administrators or school board members who interfere with a teacher’s discussion of these topics, but Formby’s hope is that if the bill becomes law, teachers could point to it to challenge any complaints.

The bill was referred to the House Education Committee, which Rep. John Moore, R-Brandon, chairs. Moore, who is listed as a co-author on the bill but has not carefully reviewed it, said it is unlikely he will bring it up.

“We’re very limited on the amount of legislation we move forward,” Moore said. “This has a long way to go to make it through the process, if I even bring it up.”

The California-based National Center for Science Education tracks bills like Formby’s throughout the country. The group works to keep evolution and climate change science in public school science education.

Sixty similar bills have been drafted in state legislatures since 2004, the group’s Deputy Director Glenn Branch said, and two have passed. Those were in Louisiana in 2008 and Tennessee in 2012.

Branch said the problem with bills like Formby’s is the federal courts have ruled against the introduction of creationism and intelligent design into school curriculum.

He also said Formby’s proposal could let teachers teach unsubstantiated and potentially discriminatory beliefs.

“There’s no reason a teacher couldn’t say that women or blacks are inferior, or … that the Earth was flat or the sun goes around the Earth, and then couldn’t be shut down by the administration.”

In addition to Moore and Formby, Reps. Bubba Carpenter, R-Burnsville, and Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven are listed as co-authors.

Contact Kate Royals at (601) 360-4619 or kroyals@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @KRRoyals on Twitter.