AUSTIN, Texas, March 27 (UPI) -- The Texas State Board of Education adopted new science curriculum standards Friday that allow for the teaching of evolution in public schools.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that the new curriculum standards will affect biology and other science courses starting in the 2010-11 school year.
On 8-7 votes, the school board removed from curriculum specific references to insufficiencies of common ancestry, natural selection and "the arguments for and against universal common descent in light of fossil evidence," the newspaper reported.
Board members also approved amendments creating expectations that students analyze and evaluate fossil data and the complexity of the cell without specific references to common ancestry and natural selection.
The board voted 13-2 for the new science standards, the newspaper said. The new public school standards will last 10 years and influence new science textbooks.
The newspaper said scientists from around the nation helped to shape the new science curriculum standards.
"They came to tell the board 'this is what science is, this is what you should be doing.' This is the scientific consensus to completely ignore that in favor of political expediency is very dangerous for education in Texas," said Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, based in Oakland, Calif.
