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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Williams, W.C.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/20/2007

HB 506

SHORT TITLE School Science Content Standards

SB

ANALYST Aguilar

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB-371

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

* $0.1

Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

* SEE FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

Public Education Department (PED)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 506 provides for the Public Education Department to adopt rules to allow teachers,

when a theory of biological origins is taught, to inform students of “scientific information"

relevant to the strengths and weaknesses of that theory and to protect teachers from adverse

consequences for doing so. The rules must also encourage students to reach their own

conclusions about biological origins and prevent any penalty for a student subscribing to a

particular position on biological origins.

House Bill 506 – Page

2

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

It is likely that if HB-506 is signed into law, there will likely be a need for new textbooks to be

adopted by school districts across the state. The following figures were provided by the PED

Instructional Materials Bureau and include textbooks used in a handful of private schools that

receive instructional materials as part of State policy. The figures below are based on School

Year 2006 and reflect only high school texts distributed through the bureau. The calculations

include the fields of Biology, Anatomy, Chemistry and Life Sciences that may be impacted by a

change in standards. There is, however, the additional issue of finding textbooks that incorporate

principles of intelligent design or creation science that have undergone the rigors of expert peer

review and have received approval for content.

Total Books Expenditure (Thousand $)

Biology

46,200

$2,300

Anatomy

5,044

$ 332

Chemistry

21,984

$1,200

Life Sciences

30,253

$1,200

Estimated Total Expenditures For Replacement

$5,000

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Attorney General’s Office notes that proponents of evolution are engaged in a long-standing

battle over the legal status of creation and evolution in the public schools. Judicial decisions have

been based upon attempts by some states (Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio for

example) to require disclaimers in textbooks regarding evolution; the teaching of “alternative"

theories; and direct teaching of the theory of “intelligent design" in the public schools. Attacks

on those attempts have usually been based upon the “Establishment Clause" of the First

Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits Congress (and the states) from

making laws “respecting an establishment of religion". In Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578

(1987) the United States Supreme Court ruled that a Louisiana law requiring that creation

science be taught in public schools whenever evolution was taught was unconstitutional, because

the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion. At the same time, however, it

held that "teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to school

children might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of

science instruction." Many lower Federal District Court cases have examined the issues raised by

specific attempts to provide “alternative" doctrines regarding the origin of life to public school

students. Most of those cases have not been favorable toward proponents of those “alternative"

doctrines.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

If enacted, PED Science and Math Bureau staff would be required to draft, open to public

review, and implement new science standards relating to the wording changes detailed in HB-

506. To the extent that the new standards would require retraining science teachers and/or

textbooks, the administrative costs could be substantial.

House Bill 506 – Page

3

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The Attorney General’s Office notes that it is conceivable that this bill, if passed, will be subject

to judicial scrutiny in order to determine whether its intent is purely “secular", or is an attempt to

advance religious beliefs.

PA/nt