Yet more hope for Texas

Texas seems to be on the road to reason for once, and the news is good: not only has Don McLeroy been kicked off the chairman's spot on the Texas State Board of Education, taking his pathetic "Strengths and Weaknesses of Evolution" policy along with him (if only temporarily), but also, two bills that would've introduced powers to grant degrees to Bible-thumping kooks straight out from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) and added more creationist language to the state education curriculum, have been shot down.

What was less publicized was a bill in the Texas State Legislature to pull an end run around the Coordinating Board by exempting ICR’s graduate program from the regulations governing degree-granting institutions in Texas.

Another bill introduced in this legislative session would have restored the ID creationist “strengths and weaknesses” language to the Texas Science Standards.

Both bills have now died due to the adjournment of the Texas legislature. So there’s a bit more hope for Texas: Don McLeroy is out as Chairman of the State Board of Education, the creationist “strengths and weaknesses” language is not in the standards, and the ICR is still not certified to award phony graduate degrees in science education.

It's not over yet, and really, never really is, of course; there still plenty of upcoming opportunities for these bills to weasel their way back into effect, but as with McLeroy's ousting, we can at least cheer for now at the idea that Texan schoolchildren won't have any more creationist nonsense peddled into their skulls.