West Virginia's Senate Bill 619 — which would, if enacted, allow "[t]eachers in public schools, including public charter schools, that include any one or more of grades Kindergarten through 12, [to] teach intelligent design as a theory of how the universe and/or humanity came to exist" — passed the Senate Education Committee on February 21, 2023, according to Charleston’s MetroNews (February 21, 2023). The bill now proceeds to the Senate floor.
Testifying against the bill, Eli Baumwell of the American Civil Liberties Union West Virginia cited the decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover and "said this bill would violate the First Amendment establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. There is no real debate that evolution is established science and even just permitting the teaching of ["intelligent design"] would subject students to indoctrination," MetroNews reported.
