House moves forward on broadening what ‘scientific theories’ can be discussed in classrooms

Members of the House Judiciary Committee meet on Jan. 17, 2024 in Charleston, W.Va. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)

A bill that could permit teachers to discuss and answer questions from students about theories, including intelligent design, will head to the House of Delegates for a vote after a tweak Tuesday morning.

Senators already approved the bill, Senate Bill 280, early in the legislative session, saying it protected teachers who may face legal challenges when discussing theories outside of evolution.

A Democrat member of the House Committee on the Judiciary argued that the bill didn’t explicitly permit intelligent design in classroom teaching — despite what was discussed as a possible intent of the legislation in the Senate.

During debate, Republicans emphasized that the bill wouldn’t be a mandate of what to teach; rather, they said the legislation ensured that students could have wide-ranging discussions on theories.

“This bill doesn’t require a teacher to teach creationism,” said Del. Andy Shamblin, R-Kanawha, who is a public school teacher. “All this bill does is say if the subject is brought up, the teacher can discuss that subject.”

While voicing support of the legislation, Del. Scot Heckert, R-Wood, said that the bill could result in more students being interested in science or “simply [keep] them from getting involved in drugs, playing on the computer all the time or eating Tide Pods.”

“It’s a good bill,” he added.

Judiciary Committee members amended the legislation to say, “No public school board, school superintendent, or school principal may prohibit a public school classroom teacher from responding to student inquiries or answering questions from students about scientific theories of how the universe/andor life came to exist.”

Their amendment returned it back to the Senate’s version of the bill after changes in the House Education Committee.

Democrats on the committee raised concerns that the bill’s intent was to insert religious teaching into schools. Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, said that Republicans’ were misinterpreting what the bill would do.

“It does not protect creationism, it does not protect intelligent design,” Hansen said. “I have a lot of respect for people’s religious beliefs and how those beliefs might impact how they think life began on earth, but the question is whether that’s a scientific belief or not and whether those should be taught along with scientific theories in a class? I think not.”

While there is no law that bans discussing intelligent design in West Virginia public schools, two Hurricane High School students told lawmakers in January that their science teachers feared teaching about intelligent design in their classrooms. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, who is a public school teacher.

In 2005, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that it was unconstitutional to present intelligent design as an alternative to evolution because it advanced a Christian viewpoint and is not legitimate science.

Del. Todd Kirby, R-Raleigh, said that he didn’t see how the legislation introduced religion to students in the sciences classes.

“Just because you believe we came from something greater than a mere chance or an instance when everything happened to come together in our universe and solar system … it doesn’t mean you’re pushing religion. It just means you have a different theory than what’s taught in school,” he said.

Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, worried that the bill offered “no guardrails” as to how a teacher could respond to students, thus potentially inserting religious theories.

“I think some people believe this will open up the door for creationism, but it’s just as likely that the teacher spouts off a theory that has no basis whatsoever. It could have unintended consequences,” he said.

Garcia and Hansen voted against the measure, which passed and will head to the full House of Delegates for consideration.

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