We recently reviewed the documentary The Revisionaries, which chronicles the actions of the Texas state school board as it attempted to rewrite the science and history standards that had been prepared by experts in education and the relevant subjects. For biology, the board's revisions meant that textbook publishers were instructed to help teachers and students "analyze all sides of scientific information" about evolution. Given that ideas only reach the status of theory if they have overwhelming evidence supporting them, it isn't at all clear what "all sides" would involve.

The movie ended on a somewhat positive note; although the standards had been modified, Don McLeroy, the most vocal opponent of evolution education, lost his bid for reelection to the board. However, it now looks like his successor intends to carry on his legacy.

This week, the Texas Freedom Network (also featured in the film) posted a video to YouTube, filmed when the current head of the board, Barbara Cargill, was testifying before the state Senate. In the clip, Cargill says she has been examining the biology material that has been set up to help teachers meet the state standards (called CSCOPE) and zoomed straight to the material on evolution. And she did not like what she saw.

Cargill's complaint is that the material overwhelmingly supports the theory of evolution, which was clearly not what she intended when she voted for the "all sides" language in the standards. Of course, evolution would have never reached the status of theory if it weren't overwhelmingly supported, so it's not clear what Cargill was expecting.

The testimony suggests that the confused language of the recently approved science standards was intentionally chosen to allow the board to exert pressure on publishers to undercut accurate science education. Which is precisely what many people warned at the time (the title of the Texas Freedom Network's announcement for the video starts with "Told You So").

Cargill will be back before the Senate next week, as the body is scheduled to vote on her appointment to lead the board, so we may be seeing more on this topic shortly.