The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday gave a partisan passing grade to the bill critics say is designed to challenge the teaching of evolution in Florida classrooms.

Sen. Ronda Storms, a Tampa-area Republican and former teacher, is carrying the bill at the behest of religious groups who lost a close vote to amend Florida's science-teaching standards earlier this year. the Academic Freedom bill, as it's known, says teachers can't be discriminated against for teaching ideas contrary to the theory of evolution.