State proposal would remove ‘climate change’ and ‘evolution’ from Iowa science standards
Click here for updates on this story
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Some Iowans are raising concern about new proposed state science standards. The Iowa Department of Education’s proposal would remove the phrase “climate change” and some other scientific words and concepts from state standards.
Nearly 40 people came in person to speak at Thursday’s final public feedback forum at the Grimes State Office Building in Des Moines. More spoke over Zoom. Teachers, scientists, school administrators, education consultants, parents, employers and a middle school student each had five minutes to share their thoughts.
Some drove more than two hours to share their perspective with the Iowa Department of Education. Every person who spoke Thursday expressed concern about the removal of certain words from Iowa’s science standards.
In Iowa’s new proposed standards, any mention of “climate change” was changed to the phrase “climate trends” and all references to human impact on climate change were removed. Although the standards would still include the concept of biological change over time, the word “evolution” was erased.
An Iowa Department of Education Science Standards Revision Team, which included 37 members with experience in education and science, put together the proposed standards. Drake University science professor Jerrid Kruse was on that revision team.
At Thursday’s forum, Kruse said the version the revision team submitted was different than the state’s proposed standards. He said the revision team was told their proposal would be “copy-edited,” but he was not aware that the state would remove the words “climate change” or “evolution” from their recommended standards.
“I do not know how or when or what or who made the changes later that we’re all concerned about,” Kruse said during Thursday’s forum. “I think we’re all rightfully concerned about those things.”
After Thursday’s meeting, KCCI asked the Iowa Department of Education consultant who led the meeting and the department’s general counsel why the changes were made. Both declined to answer and referred us to a spokesperson for the department.
As of 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, the spokesperson had not responded to KCCI’s email which asked why the changes were made and for the names and credentials of who made the changes.
“I have not heard a single word of support for those changes and so if they are going to truly represent us, the people, then these changes need to be made back,” Kruse said.
The Iowa Department of Education will be collecting public feedback online through this link until Feb. 3. They said Thursday that they will compile the in-person and digital feedback and will consider it as they work to finalize the state science standards in March.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.