By CATHERINE DOLINSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 4, 2008

Updated: 03/03/2008 11:55 pm

TALLAHASSEE - A Senate committee chairman wants to hold a hearing on a proposal from Sen. Ronda Storms to allow public school teachers to contradict the theory of evolution in class.

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, chairman of the PreK-12 Committee, said he hopes to schedule a hearing during the session on Storms' evolution proposal. Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, confirmed Monday he will file the bill in the House.

But the plan faces plenty of resistance from lawmakers in both parties, who say they are loath to rewrite the teaching standards that the state Board of Education passed last month.

Storms, R-Valrico, filed the "Academic Freedom Act" on Friday to protect K-12 school teachers who present "scientific information relevant to the full range of scientific views regarding biological and chemical evolution in connection with teaching any prescribed curriculum regarding chemical or biological origins."

The proposal comes from activists who failed to convince the state Board of Education to adopt the language as part of the state's new science standards. Board members voted to mandate explicitly the teaching of evolution, which they agreed to qualify as a "theory." They did not, however, include any special provision for teaching alternative theories.

Religion's Role Debated  --> Story Continues Off Site.