Rejoice Pastafarians

Science has been restored to the realm of sanity on the Kansas School Board.

Moderate Republicans scored key primary victories in State Board of Education races, wrestling control from conservatives in a battle shaped by the debate over the teaching of evolution.

Conservative Republicans began Tuesday with a 6-4 board majority. However, one of their incumbents lost, and a pro-evolution moderate won the GOP nomination for a seat held by a retiring conservative.

The results left only four board members who voted last year to adopt science standards that questioned the validity of evolutionary theory.

In one of the most watched races on the ballot, Sally Cauble, of Liberal, defeated anti-evolution incumbent Connie Morris, of St. Francis. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting early Wednesday, Cauble held a 54 percent to 46 percent lead in the 5th District, which covers 41 western counties.

Morris, a former teacher, has described evolution as "an age-old fairy tale" and "a nice bedtime story" unsupported by science. She also had drawn criticism for her outspokenness on teaching children of immigrants and sex education. - linkage (Wichita Eagle)

No word yet if the new members of the KSBOE will be including His Noodley Divine Being in future curriculum.