Alabama updated its science education standards for the first time in a decade, requiring schools to teach students about evolution and human activity’s impact on climate change, starting in 2016.
Previously, the standards did require schools to touch on evolution, but the new standards direct teachers to teach the scientific evidence that supports the evolutionary theory, according to the Associated Press.
Textbooks used in the state also bear a sticker calling evolution a “controversial theory,” and the new standards do not alter the disclaimer, according to the AP. A committee will review the warning stickers in a November hearing.
The changes to the state standards were approved unanimously by the Republican-controlled state education board last week.
Although the guidelines are set to officially take effect in 2016, Steve Ricks, the math and science initiative director at the Alabama Department of Education, told the Huffington Post that the state will be “extremely proactive” and introduce the new standards immediately.
