After nearly 20 years, the state is changing its science standards for public K-12 schools.
The Department of Education held its first listening session at Armwood High School in Hillsborough County on Tuesday after publishing the proposed standards on its website on Friday.
A virtual session is taking place Wednesday night. Another in-person listening session is planned for Oct. 5 at Walton High School in DeFuniak Springs.
The current round of updates would be implemented over the 2028-2029 school year for grades K-2 and in the 2029-2030 school year for older grade levels.
In a press release last Friday, Commissioner Henry Mack wrote that the new standards would be "grounded in facts and evidence" and not "ideology."
“Science begins in wonder, not in ideology. The classical tradition taught that nature is intelligible because it is ordered — that the book of creation can be read by reason,” Mack said in the press release. “Florida's new science standards will form students who observe carefully, reason rigorously, and treat the natural world as something given to be known, not invented.”
During Tuesday's meeting, several educators brought up concerns that topics related to evolution and that the word "evolution" was missing from the documents for review.
Read the documents here: Science Standards Review
"I noticed that there were like references to evolution, but without actually like stating evolution," said Lindsey Craven, a science specialist for grades 9-12 for Pinellas County Schools.
Charlotte Bernhardt, a biology teacher from Durant High School in Hillsborough County, said she noticed some standards were missing as well.
"If they're going to be studying things like biology, medicine, or science, how are they going to be on the level playing field with students from other states, especially if they go out of state for university?" Bernhardt asked.
After the public comment session, educators spoke with Patricia Duncan, senior education manager with the FDOE.
Duncan told the group that it was not intentional that certain topics or words were left out and that the meeting was the first of many steps in updating the science standards. She encouraged people to give feedback on the DOE website.
The state's last did an update on its science standards in 2008. The process was mired in debates about evolution vs. creation, reported the Tampa Bay Times.
Also Read: How Florida is challenging climate change in textbooks, while quietly updating its science standards.
The update also comes as an investigation by WUSF and the Hechinger Report found, in the summer of 2024, the state had asked textbook publishers to water down information on climate change's impact.
The FDOE reviews new textbooks about every five years.
It's not clear if the newly-proposed standards includes topics about climate change. The words "climate change" were not found in any documents published for review.
Standards did mention "weather and climate," "climate systems" and "climate impacts on biodiversity."
Current standards require students be taught about human-caused climate change in several high school electives — including earth science, marine science and environmental science — and leaves room for the subject to arise in several other classes.
WUSF reached out to the Florida Department of Education asking if topics related to climate change and evolution would be included in the final version of standards but did not receive a response.
