Science Standards Rewrite Wins Support, With Evolution Tweak

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's top school board is poised to back a rewrite of the state's science standards for public schools, the first revamp of the teaching benchmarks in two decades.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education gave preliminary support Tuesday to the standards. They were drawn up by a review committee packed largely with local educators.

With a 9-0 vote, a panel of nearly all BESE's members agreed to the standards revisions. But support came only after language was added to reference a Louisiana law that allows public school science teachers to use supplemental materials in their classrooms.

Supporters of the addition wanted the language included as a way to encourage teachers to challenge evolution in their science classrooms.

BESE is expected to give final passage to the standards Wednesday.