The Florida Department of Education is rewriting the science standards that guide what students learn from kindergarten through high school.
The department released the proposed standards Friday. It's the first comprehensive rewrite in nearly two decades, with the last one adopted in 2008.
But two topics covered in those 2008 standards, evolution and climate change, are almost entirely absent from the proposed standards.
This rewrite has been a few years in the making, starting back in November of 2024. The department said it called for teacher experts to review the K-12 academic standards before beginning workgroups in 2025 to make the draft.
The board said it's more than a "cosmetic update," emphasizing observation, questioning, investigation, evidence and testing ideas. The rewrite will also include updates to health and nutrition.
READ MORE: OIG says Broward Schools staff misled board on purchase of laptops
In a press release, Education Commissioner Henry Mack said Florida's new science standards are intended to emphasize observation, reasoning and the study of the natural world.
"Science begins in wonder, not in ideology. The classical tradition taught that nature is intelligible because it is ordered -- that the book of creation can be read by reason," Mack said. "Florida's new science standards will form students who observe carefully, reason rigorously, and treat the natural world as something given to be known, not invented."
The department is now asking parents, teachers, scientists, professors and employers to weigh in.
But education academics who have reviewed the proposed standards, as well as parents and educators, say what's missing is just as notable as what's there.
Evolution and climate change are largely absent
Florida's current science standards were adopted in 2008 after a statewide fight over whether evolution should be taught in public schools.
The standards ultimately made evolution a central part of biology instruction, calling it "the fundamental concept underlying all of biology" and saying it is supported by multiple forms of scientific evidence.
In the new version, while some related concepts appear throughout the documents, the word "evolution" does not appear in certain life science sections and is completely absent from the high school life science standards.
Middle school standards do refer to natural selection but the explicit focus on evolution in the current standards is not carried over into the proposed life science standards.
Climate change is also not mentioned in the proposed standards.
Instead, the proposed framework organizes Earth science around broader topics such as planet Earth and space. The department's release emphasizes observation, investigation, evidence evaluation and revising students' thinking when evidence requires it.
The current standards include climate and Earth's systems among the science concepts students encounter. Climate change has also been slowly phased out of Florida's science education in recent years, including through changes to how the topic is addressed in instructional materials.
The Florida Department of Education has not responded to whether or not evolution and climate change will continue to be taught under the proposed standards.
The state is asking for public input
The department's listening tour began Tuesday in Hillsborough County.
A virtual statewide meeting followed Wednesday, drawing nearly 300 participants at its peak. The audience was largely educators, but parents, guardians and other Florida residents also participated.
Florida Department of Education Chancellor Paul O. Burns presented the proposed standards. He said the department is not rewriting textbooks, but revisiting the standards that guide what's included in curriculum and instructional materials.
"Our drafts include many more real-world scenarios and examples that we want our students to engage in," Burns said.
During the public comment period, some educators said that while certain terminology has been removed, the underlying concepts remain. Others, including parents, questioned why specific scientific terms were no longer explicitly named.
Participants pointed out missing terms including gene flow, natural selection, genetic drift, origins of life, evidence of evolution, genetics and DNA transcription as examples of language they said is missing from the proposed standards.
One Orange County Public Schools parent said she was "very dissatisfied" with what she sees as the removal of evolution and climate change science from the proposed standards and curriculum.
"Climate science is real, and it's important we have our students learning real science backed by evolution," she said. "I have a problem with that as a parent who's funding the school system through my property taxes."
Robin Williams is a retired biology and environmental science teacher and adjunct instructor, she said this is turning the clock back 100 years.
“Evolution is a fundamental underlying process unifying all of biology, to leave it out is ideology posing as biology,”Robin Williams
The committee that developed the 2008 standards included teachers as well as professors with expertise in biology, chemistry and physics.
Additionally, throughout 2007 and into 2008, Florida Citizens for Science members were active in the state science standards revision process. Members assisted in the framing, writing, and editing of the new standards.
Of the 18 people who helped develop the new standards, only one was a science education professor. The rest were school district employees.
Additionally, the Florida Department of Education currently has no designated K-12 science specialists listed on its staff roster. According to the department's Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support staff directory, the Mathematics and Science unit is led by a director and includes two math specialists, but no science specialists.
The department formally had dedicated science specialists, including Patricia Duncan, who later became bureau chief, and Alicia Foy, who previously served as the elementary science specialist.
If approved, the new standards would be phased in over four years, with teacher training beginning in the second semester of the 2026-27 school year.
The department is also accepting written comments through its Standards Review website.
After the listening tour concludes, the department says its science standards team will review the feedback and continue refining the draft. The final standards are expected to go before the State Board of Education for a vote in December.
Academics disagree on standards
Andrea Borowczak, director of the University of Central Florida's School of Teacher Education, sees the rewrite as an opportunity to put more emphasis on students actually doing science.
She said the proposed standards focus on modeling, laboratory practice, data analysis and using evidence to reach conclusions.
"The biggest thing for me when I look at the rewrite is that the rewrite is about doing science seriously," Borowczak said.
She said she doesn't view the rewrite primarily through the lens of individual words being added or removed.
"It's really not about any particular word or words," she said. "It's more about the processes that the students are doing, it is defined by accountability for a method."
But Rajni Shankar-Brown, a Stetson University professor and chair of Social Justice Education, is concerned about what gets lost when specific scientific concepts and language are removed.
Shankar-Brown said they worry the rewrite could amount to "watering down" or, in some cases, "erasing entire knowledge banks" that students need.
They said science education should prepare students to understand the world they are living in, including environmental challenges.
"It is really terrifying to think that we are moving backwards when we are at a time where it is essential, we are thinking forward about our planet, about our world, about our diverse communities, about all of the different challenges that we are facing," they said.
Shankar-Brown added that they feel this is a "call to action" for other educators.
"I'm terrified and I'm upset, and I also hope that this is a call to action again for all of us in our communities," they said. "I think we need to be showing up in masses in these public input sessions."
The changes could eventually reach universities
The rewrite is aimed at K-12 schools, but the effects could extend into higher education.
Shankar-Brown said teacher preparation programs have to prepare future educators to work with Florida's state standards. If the standards change, university programs may have to adjust what future teachers are learning and how they are being prepared to teach.
"Part of it is you are working with the standards of the state to prepare students to go in and teach, and so that puts you in a position that is quite challenging, and for me, I'm still going to teach the truth," they said. "I'm going to make sure my teachers have moral courage going into a world where we need that, but at the same time, I know that is not easy because there are so many restrictions, and we see the challenges just being compounded every day."
At UCF, science teacher educators are already considering what that could look like.
Sue Gao, a professor of science education, said faculty would compare the proposed standards with the existing benchmarks, looking at changes in content, grade placement and scientific reasoning expectations.
That could affect lesson-planning assignments, assessments and field experiences for future teachers.
Once the standards are adopted, Gao said UCF would align course and program revisions with the state's implementation timeline.
Borowczak said she wanted to make one thing clear: "We don't teach standards; we teach to the standards. Standards are our destination. It's where we want our students to be able to go."
Shankar-Brown said despite the proposed changes and worries, there's so much science can offer.
"One of the beautiful things we have so many challenges in our world, but I always tell my students we also can't lose sight of hope," they said. "And to me, science, you know, also offers so much hope."
Copyright 2026 Central Florida Public Media
