Board of Education Discharges Achievement Committee
From Consideration of Resolution 31

In February the Ohio Board of Education passed Resolution 31, which deleted from the model curriculum a creationist lesson plan, "Critical Analysis of Evolution." Also deleted at that time were parts of the benchmarks and indicators that singled out evolution for special attention. (See this story on the February meeting.)

Resolution 31 also gave a charge to the Achievement Committee:

The Achievement Committee of the State Board of Education is charged to consider whether the deleted model lesson, Benchmark H and Indicator 23 should be replaced by a different lesson, benchmark, and indicator, and if so, to present any recommendation to the entire State Board for adoption.

As noted in an earlier story, the Achievement Committee was expected to vote to kill Resolution 31 at its October 9 meeting. In today's Canton Repository (registration required), Lynn Elfner, CEO of The Ohio Academy of Science, is quoted: "...the Ohio Academy of Science reached an agreement with [Achievement Committee co-chair Jim] Craig and board member Colleen Grady to kill the critical analysis effort ... That was their promise."

At today's meeting of the Ohio Board of Education, the full board responded to the Achievement Committee's lack of action on Resolution 31. The following motion was approved, by a vote of 14-3:

RESOLVED, That the Achievement Committee of the State Board of Education, having recommended no response to Board Resolution 31 referred to it in February 2006, is hereby discharged from further consideration of Resolution 31 and anything arising therefrom, including the template for teaching controversial issues.

Here's how the school board members voted

Martha Wise proposed and Rob Hovis seconded the motion. It was introduced as new business, and the customary 30 day waiting period was waived in a 13-4 vote that declared the motion an emergency measure.

The motion effectively kills any attempts to revive the creationist lesson plan in the Achievement Committee.