Bad news in Louisiana

The legislation singles out "evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" as examples of topics where "open and objective discussion" is needed. Fine. I'm all for open and objective discussion. But how does the legislation propose to ensure that it happens?

C. A teacher shall teach the material presented in the standard textbook supplied by the school system and thereafter may use supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner, as permitted by the city, parish, or other local public school board.

Huh? Now what kind of "open and objective discussion" of scientific theories do you think will happen when it's based on a "supplemental textbook"? There are two possibilities:

1. The "supplemental textbook" provides additional information and perspective on theories described in the standard textbook and is consistent with the scientific consensus presented in the standard textbook.
2. The "supplemental textbook" provides a perspective that is inconsistent with the scientific consensus presented in the standard textbook.

Which do you think the Louisiana legislature had in mind? Maybe they want to allow teachers to teach alternatives to the germ theory of disease or to the theory of gravity. There's certainly a broad scientific consensus about those and I'm sure they wouldn't want to stifle "open and objective discussion" of alternatives.

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¹P.Z. Myers provided the link.