Should have guessed that the SBOE is still trying to foist ignorance and superstition on children in science classes. People don't like the "strengths and weaknesses" language? We'll just change it to say "sufficient or insufficient"  From airtightnoodle

Also added to the proposed standards by board Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, is an amendment that directs science teachers and students to “describe the sufficiency or insufficiency of common ancestry to explain the sudden appearance, stasis and sequential nature of groups in the fossil record.”

Here's from the Houston Chronicle.

Texas schools won’t have to teach the weaknesses of evolution theories anymore, but the State Board of Education ushered in other proposed changes Friday that some scientists say still undermine evolution instruction and subject the state to ridicule.

The new proposals came just one day after the board — in a move celebrated by many scientists — narrowly agreed to delete a provision in current curriculum standards that requires teachers to instruct students in weaknesses and strengths of evolution theory...

Also added to the proposed standards by board Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, is an amendment that directs science teachers and students to “describe the sufficiency or insufficiency of common ancestry to explain the sudden appearance, stasis and sequential nature of groups in the fossil record.”

They are asking students to explain something that does not exist, said David Hillis, a biology professor at the University of Texas at Austin and MacArthur Foundation “genius award” winner.

“This new proposed language is absurd. It shows very clearly why the board should not be rewriting the science standards, especially when they introduce new language that has not even been reviewed by a single science expert,” Hillis said.

It's pretty astonishing that the SBOE is ignoring science standards (and particularly when they don't really understand what they're alleging themselves). I'm with Peter Stern when he says that the SBOE should be abolished.

Incidentally, I'm mid-way through reading the book "Forty Days and Forty Nights" about the kitzmiller/Dover trials and it is just an excellent run through of the arguments and fallacies of intelligent design and the real attempts to be deceptive to shoehorn it into public education.