State School Board Fails the People of Ohio, Roundtable Charges

16 February 2006

"Eleven members of the Ohio Board of Education did a grave injustice to the people of Ohio yesterday," stated David Zanotti, President of the American Policy Roundtable and the Ohio Roundtable. The eleven member majority overturned the state science standard and lesson plan permitting scientific analysis of macroevolution in public schools.

"Even though the standard and lesson plan were Board recommendations, not requirements, the board's abandonment of the 2002 policy was an embarrassment for public education," Zanotti claimed. "Over 20,000 people participated in creating the science standard. The Board unanimously approved the standard after a year of public input. All the polling in Ohio shows people are looking for more academic freedom in schools not state-sponsored censorship. What the Board did by overturning the standard was a cowardly response to a small group of academic elitists who bullied the Board into a decision lacking in common sense. As a result, the people of Ohio were denied their basic right to representative government."

"Witnessing the conduct of the Board yesterday reveals why Ohioans are losing faith in public education and vote against increased funding and school levies. Back in 2002 the people of Ohio played by the rules and built an honest consensus on policy. There was not a single legal complaint filed against this policy in four years. In spite of such clear public support, the Board surrendered a reasonable policy without carefully considering legal and constitutional responsibilities," Zanotti added.

Evolutionists claimed the Ohio policy contradicted a recent ruling of a federal judge in Dover, Pennsylvania. They based their pressure campaign on the fear of litigation against the Ohio standard and lesson plan. The State Board refused to request a legal review of the Dover and Ohio plans from Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro. "By not seeking the counsel of the Attorney General, the Board broke trust with the thousands of people who helped build this policy and who support it. The evolutionists know their legal claims against the Ohio standards are illegitimate. A legal review would have uncovered the clear differences between Ohio and Dover but the evidence obviously didn't matter to the evolution-only crowd. The Board's message to parents, taxpayers and children is clear: Don't bother with the Constitution or representative government or academic freedom. The radicals control education in Ohio. So where do the people of Ohio go to find justice against such forms of intimidation?"

The American Policy Roundtable is a non-partisan, non-profit education and research organization founded in 1980. The Ohio Roundtable is a division of American Policy Roundtable. David Zanotti has served as President of the Roundtable since 1986 and is host of the daily radio broadcast The Public Square(R).

Source: prnewswire

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