Intelligent design war comes to Florida

It seems that Jeb!?! Bush wants Florida to join the battle currently raging in Kansas among other places. Using Hurricane Katrina as cover, Jeb!?! appointed Cheri Yecke as the new Florida K-12 Chancellor. Seems Dr. Yecke was recently dismissed as the Minnesota Education Commissioner.Among the reasons for her dismissal: stating that local school boards should have the latitude to introduce "intelligent design". In addition, she was instrumental in crafting and implementing the No Child Left Behind Act, an unfunded mandate that has done nothing to improve education.

Fortunately for Minnesota, she pissed off enough people that they ousted her. Unfortunately for Florida, Jeb!?! decided to import the extremist failure, sending a clear signal that there's going to be a major push to undermine our science standards.

Two points of interest: Florida has the largest educational budgets of any state in the Union, and prior to the 2006 elections, Florida undergoes a massive review of text book standards and contracts with publishers.

From Pharyngula via Atrios. Thanks for the help PZ...