COLUMBUS — — Evolutionary theory, based on the research of Charles Darwin, says Earth is billions of years old and life forms gradually developed over millions of years.

It's been under fire since teacher John Scopes was tried, convicted and fined for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school classroom in 1925.

And since 2000, 31 states have faced anti-evolution campaigns of one sort or another, according to the National Center for Science Education.

Ohio has been among those states.

Scientists fight back

Now, scientists here are fighting back. They drafted a former congressman, Tom Sawyer of Akron, to run for the State Board of Education against Deborah Owens Fink, a champion of putting intelligent design into public school classrooms.

"Two members of this board told me 'You don't like what we do, run someone against me.' That's what we did," said Ohio State University biology professor Steve Rissing.

The scientists also have vowed to help incumbent Sam Schloemer of Cincinnati get re-elected. Schloemer faces a challenge from John Hritz, a former president of AK Steel Corp. Hritz did not return calls.

The state school board races, which have historically been quiet and inexpensive, could catapult into costly, contentious showdowns.

"I'll spend whatever I need to to win this race. The reality is the public agrees with me. People want more debate and open discussion," said Owens Fink, who has $10,000 in her campaign coffers. She doubted that she'd spend into the six figures. The record in the last 15 years is $36,960 spent on a state school board race.

Spending records

"My guess is we'll both break all records for an Ohio school board race. We've already both appeared more on front pages of newspapers than any other Ohio school board race," Sawyer said. "It's just a very unusual race."

The Ohio scientists formed a political arm — Help Ohio Public Education — to make endorsements, probe board candidates for their positions and take other action.

Some of the scientists rallied like-minded people across the country to flood the e-mail boxes of school board members, urging them to reject a proposed template for teachers to follow when covering controversial issues such as global warming, stem-cell research and evolution.

Board President Sue Westendorf said she's received between 25,000 and 30,000 e-mails.

The template advises teachers to establish rules of discourse, call "time outs" to allow tempers to cool and avoid ridicule.

But a group of science educators, Ohio Citizens for Science, sees red flags in the nine-page template: the original version mentioned global warming, stem-cell research and evolution as possible controversial topics; the current version leaves off half of the definition of science. And the current version mentions "critical analysis," which scientists see as code words in the intelligent design movement.

"They just want to get the door opened a little bit," board member Martha Wise said of the intelligent design proponents.

Little of this debate would reach the public if not for the efforts of Patricia Princehouse of Ohio Citizens for Science and others to publicize the curriculum issues that come before the board.

The governor appoints eight state school board members to serve at-large, and voters choose the other 11 to represent districts. Members serve four-year terms and are in position to shape education policy and curriculum for 1.8 million public school students.

The average person on the street, however, would be hard-pressed to name a single board member. Roughly 40 percent of voters who cast ballots for president don't even make a pick for state school board.

Low profile board

This can lead to surprising results. John W. Griffin, a farmer from Miamisburg, ran as a Democrat for multiple offices over decades, essentially building his name identification by frequently appearing on the ballot. He pulled a stunning upset of the state board chairman in 1992, lost a bid for re-election, then later ousted incumbent Carl Wick in 2002. After Griffin died earlier this year, Gov. Bob Taft appointed Thomas Gunlock to fill out Griffin's term.

"If we can raise the profile of these races so people can expect their state school board members to actually do something about education, to actually improve education, that's a huge victory," Princehouse said.

The profile has been raised in other states, though mostly through intelligent design controversies. In Kansas, grassroots organizations waged a $100,000 campaign to oust the conservative majority that adopted science standards challenging evolutionary theory. Since 1999, the balance of power has shifted back and forth between the two sides in Kansas.

In Ohio, public school curriculum has long been controversial, especially at the state level where most of the policy is made, said University of Akron political scientist John Green. The level of contention waxes and wanes, he said.

Conservative turn

Wise, a Republican who has served 28 years and is now running for state Senate, said the board took a more conservative turn about 10 years ago, and the new ideological bent started showing right away.

"We couldn't pass physical education standards because they might say something about sex education, and that was a no-no among the conservatives," Wise said. The state board has not touched PE or health standards since then.

The board hit a sea change about five years ago, with the arrival of Owens Fink, said Wise, who favors teaching evolution.

Owens Fink said it's unfortunate that the board hasn't been able to find common ground for the long term.

The scientists, she said, have a "one-item agenda that has very little to do with improving science education in Ohio."