West Virginia lawmakers file bill allowing "Intelligent Design" in classrooms

State Sen. Amy Grady wants to give teachers cover to spread misinformation to students

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It’s the Year of Our Lord 2023 and West Virginia Republicans are still trying to inject “Intelligent Design” in public school science classes.

State Sen. Amy Grady, along with her colleague Jay Taylor, just filed Senate Bill 619, which would add a clause to the state code permitting teachers to tell kids some Higher Power poofed them into existence.

Teachers in public schools, including public charter schools, that include any one or more of grades Kindergarten through 12, may teach intelligent design as a theory of how the universe and/or humanity came to exist.

The bill doesn’t define “Intelligent Design.” All you need to know about it, though, is that there’s no scientific support for the idea. It stands in direct opposition to evolution and is nothing more than a religious myth promoted by Christians as a way to push God into the classroom using a plausibly legal framework since Creationism wouldn’t make the cut.

(Even more bizarre? The bill adds that clause to a part of the state code that currently says teachers can’t be forced to change a grade and that they get to decide if a student can move on to the next grade level. )

This is nothing more than an attempt to destroy science classes by giving teachers leeway (and legal cover) to spread misinformation to students.

If the bill were to pass, you can expect a lawsuit to be filed.

Nick Fish @nicholasrfish

In 2005, a federal court found that "Intelligent Design" is creationism and teaching it in public schools is unconstitutional. In that case, the school ended up paying $1 million in fees. A costly lesson we'd be happy to teach WV about injecting religion into public schools.

вяуαη ρ. кєℓℓєу @bryankelleybpk

newly introduced bill in WV would allow teachers in public schools to "teach intelligent design as a theory of how the universe and/or humanity came to exist" #edpolicy https://t.co/C2E1B9o4cv https://t.co/KQU2PBzEPu

For now, the bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee, which happens to be chaired by Grady herself. That tells you a lot about how little West Virginia cares about public schools.

Neither she nor Taylor have issued any public comment yet on the proposed legislation.