A Hard-Won Victory for Science Education in Louisiana
(UPDATE: See also the postings at the National Center for Science Education and Kent Holsinger's blog, Uncommon Ground)
(I am quoting heavily here from communications from Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU))
Encouraging news this week concerning the success of a collaborative effort by AU and more than 30 other organizations, including AIBS and some of its member societies, to press for the removal of a provision in a federal appropriations bill that would have directed $100,000 in federal funds to a Louisiana group that promotes creationism in the science classroom.
U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) had inserted the earmark into the Appropriations Committee's report on a bill allocating money for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. Sen. Vitter wanted to designate $100,000 to the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF) "to develop a plan to promote better science education."
In a letter to every member of the Senate, the AU-led group argued against the funding on constitutional grounds. The letter's signatories came from across the scientific, educational, civil liberties and religious communities, including the American Association of School Administrators, the American Association of University Women, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, the Herpetologist's League, the National Center for Science Education, the National Education Association, the National Science Teachers Association, the Organization of Biological Field Stations, the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Union for Reform Judaism.
Sen. Vitter has now requested that the earmark be removed. On the floor of the Senate, the Louisiana Republican insisted that the money was not designed to promote creationism and blamed the controversy on groups promoting "hysterics."
"This is great news for the children of Louisiana," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "The federal courts have repeatedly held that teaching creationism in public schools is unconstitutional."