A new majority on the Kansas State Board of Education is moving faster than some anticipated to rewrite science standards adopted less than two years ago.

The board decided Tuesday to put the science standards on its agenda later in the day. The Board is expected to ask the committee which was charged with reviewing the standards to come forward with recommendatins for changes that could be put to a final vote next month.

The existing standards treat evolution as a flawed theory and incorporate language favored by intelligent design proponents. They were adopted in 2005 when the board had a 6-to-4 majority of conservative Republicans. But in last year's elections, a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans captured a majority. The new members were sworn Monday and took control Tuesday.

The new Board's first meeting started in agreement, with members unanimously electing Democrat Bill Wagnon as their chairperson. He succeeds conservative Republican Steve Abrams. But disagreement surfaced moments later, when conservative Republicans John Bacon and Kathy Martin voted against adding the science standards item to the agenda.

In an interview with 13 News before the meeting, Bacon said he didn't see the need to continually bring up the standards, since they are automatically reviewed every five years. He says he believes the current standards are good in that they expose students to more information. He says he finds it interesting that the same members who advoate academic freedom are supporting changes that he says take away teachers' freedom to teach science.

But Wagnon is among those saying the science standards issue needs to be addressed quickly. He says it's an opportunity to correct a "miscarriage of science education" in Kansas that needs to be cleaned up as quickly as it can. He says the current standards take Kansas out of line with nationally accepted standards.

While acknowledging the standards were a big issue in her primary campaign against incumbent Connie Morris, new board member Sally Cauble also says she would like an opportunity to study the issue. She says she wasn't in on the committee's discussions, so she wants to hear what it has to say before she makes a decision. She says she personally would like to see them changed, and she'd like school districts to have as much lead time as possible in knowing what the standards will be.

The standards are used to develop tests that measure how well students are learning science, but the decision on what is taught in classrooms is left to several hundred local school boards.