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Montana's House Bill 183, which purports to "encourage critical thinking regarding controversial scientific theories" such as "biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, random mutation, natural selection, DNA, and fossil discoveries," was tabled in the House Education Committee on February 5, 2013.
A Montana legislator is preparing a bill to require the teaching of "intelligent design" along with evolution.
House Joint Resolution 21, introduced by Representative Robin Hamilton (D-District 92) on January 26, 2007, in the Montana House of Representatives and referred to the Committee on Education, would, if enacted, express the Montana legislature's recognition of the importance of separation of church and state and support of the right of local school board trustees to adopt a science curriculum based on sound scientific principles.
Two evolution-related measures have failed to progress through the Montana legislature and are dead for this session. March 1 was the deadline for bills to pass in their first house. One potential bill, known by its draft number of LC1199, was never formally introduced. Sponsored by Rep. Roger Koopman, the bill had a short title reading: "Allow teaching competing theories of origin". This bill apparently never completed the drafting process.
Following last year's debate over evolution education in the small Montana town of Darby, two bills have been proposed in the Montana legislature which take diametrically opposed stands on the place of evolution in the science classrooms of the state's public schools.
On July 5, 2004, the school board in Darby, Montana voted 3-2 not to adopt a proposed "objective origins policy" on its second reading. The policy had been tentatively approved on February 2 at its first reading, but is now rejected. The proposal sparked intense local controversy and national media attention earlier this year. The fate of the policy became the central issue in the May school board election, where two policy supporters were decisively defeated by opponents, resulting in the change in board majority from "pro" to "anti".
After the May 4, 2004, school board election in Darby, Montana, the proposed "objective origins" policy is likely to be dead in the water.
Roxanne Cleasby, a parent in Helena, Montana, was attempting to have a book about horses (Juliet Clutton-Brock's Horse) removed from her local elementary school library because it devotes two pages to discussing equine evolution.
A parent in Helena, Montana, is attempting to have a book about horses removed from her local elementary school library because it devotes two pages to discussing equine evolution.