Kentucky governor to overrule legislature, OKs new science standards

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Another state will see the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, a set of educational guidelines that are intended to improve science education in public schools. Kentucky governor Steve Beshear has announced that he will implement the standards in the state's public education system. But that move was forced on him after a legislative committee had rejected them earlier in the week.

Kentucky was one of the states involved in crafting the Next Generation Science Standards, and its school board approved them earlier this year. But that approval came despite a significant public outcry, with people objecting to the standards' content on evolution on religious grounds and calling the whole approach of setting education standards both fascism and socialism.

With the board's approval, the standards moved on to the legislature. And, in contrast to the school board, the legislature chose to listen to the public outcry. Earlier this week, the Administrative Regulations Review Subcommittee rejected their adoption in a 5 to 1 vote, citing the same public opposition that the school board had dismissed.