Idaho's science standards to be revised again

Idaho state science standards

Idaho's state science education standards are going to be revised again, according to Idaho Education News (June 26, 2020), which means that the treatment of climate change in the standards is likely again to be at risk.

From 2016 to 2018, a group of legislators in Idaho's House of Representatives attempted to block the adoption of new state science standards because of their treatment of climate change only failing in 2018. They renewed their efforts in 2020, but failed, as NCSE previously reported.

In the wake of that failure, though, the legislature called for the standards to be revised again, partly in order to "provide balance in standards that have been politicized," including by discussing "positive and negative aspects" of energy sources, according to Idaho Education News (March 4, 2020).

Dorothy Moon (R-District 8), a legislator on the revision committee, was described as opposing "science standards that cast Idaho businesses and industry in a negative light": presumably these include standards concerning anthropogenic climate change.

A revised version of the standards is expected to be evaluated by the state board of education in October 2021. If the board votes to adopt the new standards, they will still be submitted to the legislature for its approval in 2022.

Glenn Branch
Short Bio

Glenn Branch is Deputy Director of NCSE.

branch@ncse.ngo