By George Chidi
Saturday, February 15, 2014 22:04 EST

Education in science will be opt-out in Missouri, if a bill requiring schools to notify parents if “the theory of evolution by natural selection” is being taught at their child’s school passes.

The bill proposed by Republican State Rep. Rick Brattin had its first public hearing Thursday. Brattin has described teaching only evolution in school as “indoctrination” to local TV.

The language of the bill makes little provision separating discussion of the specifics of evolutionary biology from any other element of biology upon which evolutionary theory rests, like anthropology, examination of dinosaur fossils, genetic sciences, disease or modern medicine.

“My fear is that every mention of a fossil, every conversation about the development of organs and vital structures, every single mention about the genetic similarity that we share with other organisms could potentially be systematically whittled out of these student’s education,” wroteMaxton Thoman, a student columnist for the University of Alabama’s Crimson White. “In the end, a lack of an education in this field will put students behind the rest of their class, and the rest of the world for that matter, in a way that they will not be able to recover from – much like leaving out multiplication would severely hinder any further advancement in mathematics.”

The bill also provides for the right of parents to inspect all “curriculum materials used in the district’s or school’s evolution instruction” before they can be used in class.

The National Center for Science Education’s deputy director Glenn Branch said in letter online 

The California Teachers Retirement System, or CalSTRS, is facing a significant unfunded liability with respect to its Defined Benefit Program. CalSTRS has a shortfall in funding of approximately $71 billion and will run out of funding for the program by 2046 if no changes occur. If this happens, it hurts hard=working teachers in our state as well as taxpayers and our education system.

The best solution to fix the shortfall is one which is fair to all stakeholders involved: school districts, the state, and teachers. I committed along with the Speaker of the Assembly and the Assembly Democratic Caucus to push to implement a permanent ongoing solution to the funding shortfall in CalSTRS this year.

As chair of the Assembly Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security, I will begin this process next week by having the first of a series of hearings on Wednesday, Feb. 19.

This first hearing – “Addressing the California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s Long-Term funding Needs” – will build upon a joint hearing my committee held last year with the Senate by updating and re-evaluating the information we received and getting the current perspectives on the issue from the various stakeholder groups, including representatives from CalSTRS, the California Teachers Association, and the Association of California School Administrators.

Future hearings will focus on the significant issues that must be resolved before a solution can be reached, such as the impact employer increases will have on Proposition 98 funding and how the