TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas education officials are seeking dismissal of a federal lawsuit over new, multi-state science standards filed by a group that claims the guidelines promote atheism and violate students’ religious freedoms.
Attorneys for the State Board of Education, its 10 members, the Department of Education and Commissioner Diane DeBacker filed the request Thursday.
They argued that Citizens for Objective Public Education and the 15 parents who joined it in challenging the standards can’t show they were harmed by the state board’s adoption of them in June. Among other things, the suing parties object to how evolution is handled.
State lawyers said the state board provides only general supervision of local schools, and decisions about what’s taught are made locally.
An attorney for the suing parties didn’t immediately return a telephone message.
