Teaching evolution will be back in the spotlight again this evening.

A three-member State Board of Education subcommittee is scheduled to meet at 6:15 p.m. in Topeka to finish its preparations for public hearings in May. Those six days of hearings are supposed to examine scientific evidence for and against evolution.

The entire board plans to consider changes to the state's science standards, which describe evolution as a key concept for students to learn.

Critics of the standards say students don't hear enough criticism of evolution. But defenders say the standards are under attack by people who want to sneak creationism into the classroom.

A coalition of groups supporting the current standards has set a 6 p.m. news conference.