Anti-NGSS bill in Iowa

House File 272, introduced in the Iowa House of Representatives on February 17, 2015, and referred to the House Committee on Education, would, if enacted, prevent Iowa from adopting the Next Generation Science Standards — and part of the stated reason is the NGSS's treatment of evolution and climate change.

According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette (March 2, 2015), the bill's lead sponsor Sandy Salmon (R-District 63) objects to the fact that the standards were not written in Iowa, but is also "concerned that the standards miss some key math and science concepts, present evolution as scientific fact[,] and shine a negative light on human impacts on climate change."

Also sponsoring HF 272 are Dean Fisher (R-District 72), John H. Wills (R-District 1), Greg Heartsill (R-District 28), Steven Holt (R-District 18), Larry Sheets (R-District 80), Ralph C. Watts (R-District 19), and John Landon (R-District 37). But Salmon told the Gazette that the bill was stalled in a subcommittee and that she did not expect it to emerge.

A lead state partner in the development of the NGSS, Iowa is currently considering whether to adopt the standards. A review team is expected to consider input from four public forums and a public on-line survey in March 2015 and to make a recommendation to the state board of education, which will decide whether to adopt the NGSS.