Texas State Board of Education candidates on teaching evolution

Just a quick pointer to Houston Chronicle coverage of a debate by candidates for the Texas State Board of Education. As is often the case, candidates are asked specifically about their views on evolution.

Republican Marsha Farney, of Georgetown, and Democrat Judy Jennings, of Austin, both of whom have doctoral degrees in education, meet in the Nov. 2 election to replace the retiring Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond.

The social conservatives already lost one of their leaders — Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, in a GOP primary election earlier this year. McLeroy calls himself a “young Earth creationist,” who believes dinosaurs coexisted with humans.

“No, I don’t believe that dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. That’s outrageous,” Jennings said during the debate. “This is what our state board of education has become — an object of ridicule.

“If you want to teach creationism, you can teach it in church; you can teach it in a philosophy class. You can teach it in a world religion class, but it has no place in science,” she said.

Farney, also rejecting any possibility of dinosaurs and humans sharing the planet, said parents should be responsible for teaching faith and values.

On the face of it, it looks like both candidates would me more moderate on the subject of evolution than the woman they would be replacing, Cynthia Dunbar.