Associated Press
August 9, 2005
Kansas Schools OK Scrutiny of Evolution

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Kansas Board of Education voted 6-4 Tuesday to
include greater criticism of evolution in its school science standards,
but it decided to send the standards to an outside academic for review
before taking a final vote.

The Kansas school system was ridiculed around the country in 1999 when
the board deleted most references to evolution. The system later
reversed course, but the language favored by the board Tuesday comes
from advocates of intelligent design.

The intelligent design concept holds that some features of the natural
world are best explained by an unspecified intelligent cause. Evolution
is a fundamental scientific theory that species evolved over millions
of years through natural selection.

The standards are used in developing state tests for fourth, seventh
and 10th-graders, though local schools have the final say on what is
taught in their classrooms. Students will be tested on the new
standards in the 2007-08 school year.

The board is expected to vote on final approval of the standards in
October.