STATE POLITICS & POLICY | Fla. Senate Rejects Proposal To Add Comprehensive Sex Education Amendment to Evolution Bill

STATE POLITICS & POLICY | Fla. Senate Rejects Proposal To Add Comprehensive Sex Education Amendment to Evolution Bill
[April 21, 2008]

The Florida Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal to add a comprehensive sex education amendment to an education bill (S 2692) that would allow teachers to provide "scientific information relevant to the full range of scientific views regarding biological and chemical evolution," the Miami Herald reports. Opponents of S 2692, sponsored by Sen. Ronda Storms (R), said the measure would a "backdoor" way to allow the teaching of intelligent design, according to the Herald.

Senate Democrats said that the sex education amendment, sponsored by Sen. Ted Deutch (D), would allow public schools to teach the "full range of scientific views" about sex education. Storms said that the sex education amendment went too far, adding that the measure did not belong in the bill and that it could lead to "prematurely deflowering kindergartners and first- and second-graders." Deutch said that the amendment had to be "age appropriate" and that it would help reduce sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies. He added that the bill simply gives students "the opportunity to ask about the scientific information" (Caputo, Miami Herald, 4/18).