Update: Victory for Skeptics! W.Va. school board votes ‘to allow classroom debate on climate change’

Two months after withdrawing its controversial science education standards with modifications that would have asked students to question the scientific community’s assertion that global warming is caused by human greenhouse emissions, the West Virginia Board of Education voted Thursday to amend the standards once again to allow classroom debate on climate change.

Despite months of national scrutiny from media outlets, teachers and educational organizations that support scientific research proving human activity causes climate change, the board voted 6-2 to approve the newly amended standards, which will now go into effect on July 1, 2016.

While the amended language differs from what the board redacted in January, after unanimously approving the changes in December, the amended standards contain the same directives, which allow students to use scientific models to form their own conclusions on the debated topic.…