The Kansas State Board of Education repealed a set of anti-evolution science curriculum guidelines Tuesday, which had earned the state worldwide notoriety, according to The Associated Press.
The old set of guidelines, passed in 2005 with the strong backing of supporters of intelligent design, included language that suggested evolutionary concepts like the common origin of all life on Earth were controversial and were being challenged by newer research. Intelligent design advocates believe that a "higher authority" must have been involved in the creation of the Earth's highly complex living organisms, according to the AP.
The new guidelines, including a new definition of science that limits it to natural explanations of what is observed in the universe, were able to be passed because a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats held the majority of the board's seats after last year's election, according to the AP.
"Those standards represent mainstream scientific consensus about both what science is and what evolution is," Jack Krebs, a math and science teacher who is also the president of Kansas Citizens for Science, said.
Conservative members of the board said the new guidelines limit what students know about evolution, according to the AP.
"There seems to be a pattern," Steve Abrams, a member of the board, said. "Anything that might question the veracity of evolution is deleted"
