The new legislative session

The shape of the next Florida legislative session is developing. As we watch and prepare for any bills that might affect science education, or education overall, here is a snapshot of the past and the future of the state Senate. I will try to do a similar analysis for the House, but that will take quite a bit more time and effort.

What happened in 2008 in the Senate:

Democrats voting no on the academic freedom bill = 12
Republicans voting no on the academic freedom bill = 5

Democrats voting yes on the academic freedom bill = 1
Republicans voting yes on the academic freedom bill = 20

Did not vote on the academic freedom bill = 2 (1 Democrat and 1 Republican)

Final vote was 21 yeas and 17 nays

In the Senate Education preK-12 committee, Bullard voted Y, but later voted N on the floor.

2008 Senate debate on the academic freedom bill notes:

Unfortunately, Senator Geller is no longer in the Senate. He was the one who kept trying to get Senator Storms (the bill sponsor) to answer questions about intelligent design. His debating in opposition was outstanding and will be missed! We can only hope that someone else with his depth of knowledge on the subject steps up to fill his shoes.

Senator Wilson debated against the bill, citing previous Supreme Court decisions. She was worried that any version of religion could slip into the classroom, not just Christianity.

Senator Gaetz debated for the bill by using the critical analysis canard. In debate, he used an example of a classroom lesson on gravity, but completely twisted the meaning of the lesson away from ‘how science works’ into ‘we should be allowed to question everything no matter what’.

Senator Joyner debated against the bill by saying that the bill would allow religion in the classroom.

Senator Wise debated for the bill (he had also co-sponsored it) by referring to the movie Expelled and claiming folks are being silenced for daring to question evolution.

Senator Rich debated against the bill by saying that the state standards already promote a form of critical analysis. Experts put together the standards; let’s not interfere with their hard work.

Senators Rich and Deutch had attempted to amend the bill with a provision that allowed “academic freedom” to be extended to sex education. The amendment failed, but it was a nice try.

New in the Senate for 2009:

The party makeup of the senate is the same as last year: 26 Republicans and 14 Democrats.

There are 7 new members in the senate.
Of those, 4 came over from the house. In the house, 3 (Altman, Gardiner, and Richter) of them had voted for the bill and 1 (Gelber) had voted against the bill. However, those house votes match the votes cast by the senators they replaced, so there is no loss or gain of votes likely from them.

That leaves us with 3 (Detert, Smith, and Sobel) complete unknowns.

Another item to keep in mind is that last year Senator Atwater-R did not vote. (I don’t know what the reason was. Perhaps it was a procedural thing.) He is now the Senate President.

Additional debate notes:

New member Senator Gelber was in the House last session. He debated there in opposition to the bill. He said the purpose of the bill was to get religion into the classroom. He also argued that the BoE already addressed the issue; no need to rehash.

New member Senator Altman was in the House last session. He debated for the bill, saying that not allowing critical analysis makes evolution nothing more than dogma and a religion of its own.

Next session information:

The legislative session kicks off in early March. Bill filing has already started, though, primarily in the House. There are no bills related to education in the Senate yet. There are a few bills now in the House related to education, but nothing on science education yet. Here is what is in the House already:

HB 13 – Public K-12 Education
GENERAL BILL   by McBurney
Public K-12 Education: Requires Sunshine State Standards for social studies to include emphasis on civics education; requires social studies standards to be included in assessments; requires FCAT to measure student content knowledge & skills in social studies; provides requirements for administration.
Effective Date: upon becoming a law
Last Event: Filed on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:09 AM

HB 17 – Public School Attendance
GENERAL BILL   by McBurney
Public School Attendance: Creates Student Preparedness Pilot Program to include Duval County School District as one of selected school districts; allows students 16 to 18 years of age to terminate school enrollment if they meet pilot program requirements for attendance & completion; provides for nontraditional academic options; provides for study & report by OPPAGA.
Effective Date: July 1, 2009
Last Event: Filed on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:12 AM

HB 19 – Public K-12 Educational Instruction
GENERAL BILL   by Jenne
Public K-12 Educational Instruction: Deletes provisions that require schools to teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school-age students as part of instruction in human sexuality.
Effective Date: July 1, 2009
Last Event: Filed on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 8:13 AM