Schwarzenegger Vetoes Global Warming Curriculum Mandate

The Heartland Institute, by Tom Tanton
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on July 25 vetoed legislation that would have required global warming be taught as part of the public school curriculum throughout the state.

Senate Bill 908 would have required the State Board of Education to adopt curriculum “frameworks” for global warming instruction. In addition to serving as curriculum recommendations for local school districts, the frameworks would have dictated to publishers the content of textbooks. Because California is one of the largest markets for school textbooks, the mandate would have affected textbooks used in schools nationwide.

The bill was approved in the Senate on January 30, 2008 and by the Assembly on July 14.

No Balance Required
The bill was controversial in the Senate, its house of origin, and to a lesser extent in the Assembly, partly because it required “climate change” to be taught without requiring scientific balance between the positions of scientists who support or dispute the underpinnings of the global warming debate.

“I find it disturbing that this mandate to teach this theory is not accompanied by a requirement that the discussion be science-based and include a critical analysis of all sides of the subject,” state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), said during the Senate debate.

The measure, sponsored by state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), also would have required future science textbooks to include global warming as a subject. In his veto statement, Schwarzenegger said he supported education that spotlights the dangers of global warming, but that he was opposed to educational mandates from Sacramento.


Rigorous Standards Protected
“I continue to believe that the state should refrain from being overly prescriptive in specific school curriculum, beyond establishing rigorous academic standards,” said Schwarzenegger in a press statement.

Schwarzenegger noted California’s Integrated Waste Management Board’s Office of Education and Environment and the state’s Environmental Protection Agency are creating an environmental curriculum for K-12 students, which will include climate change issues.

While global warming is already discussed in California high school classes as affecting weather, the subject is not required to be covered in all textbooks, according to the California Science Teachers Association.


Collaborating with Activist Groups
“Those of us who are concerned that California public school children will be brainwashed into believing climate change is a manmade crisis need to monitor carefully the climate change curriculum now being developed by the Integrated Waste Management Board’s Office of Education and Environment and California’s Environmental Protection Agency,” said Maureen Martin, senior fellow for legal affairs at The Heartland Institute.

“While more attention has been focused on the proposed legislation requiring climate change to be taught in the public schools, the climate change public school curriculum is now in the hands of state bureaucrats who are collaborating with environmental activist groups to develop it. This is the real battleground, and it needs to be watched carefully,” Martin warned.

Tom Tanton (ttanton@fastkat.com) is a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute.