Changes

===Controversies===

===Controversies===

In his second term as superintendent under then Governor David Treen, Nix sided against those pursuing the [[creation science]] agenda in the writing and teaching of science. The Louisiana Balanced Treatment Act, signed into law in 1981 by Treen, required public school districts to offer equal consideration of creation and the [[theory of evolution]]. Nix deemed the act unconstitutional and refused to enforce it. The [[United States Supreme Court]] subsequently held in 1987 in ''Edwards v. Aguillard'' that creation science constitutes a religion and is prohibited in public education under the court's interpretation of the [[establishment clause]] of the [[First Amendment]] to the[[ United States Constitution]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9rMi51o1-gC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146|author=Pamela Winnick|title=A Jealous God: Science's Crusade Against Religion|page= 146|location=[[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]]|publisher=Thomas Nelson Publishers|date=2005|ISBN=1-5955-5019-4|accessdate=October 7, 2013}}</ref>​

In his second term as superintendent under then Governor David Treen, Nix sided against those pursuing the [[creation science]] agenda in the writing and teaching of science. The Louisiana Balanced Treatment Act, signed into law in 1981 by Treen, required public school districts to offer equal consideration of creation and the [[theory of evolution]]. Nix deemed the act unconstitutional and refused to enforce it. The [[United States Supreme Court]] subsequently held in 1987 in ''Edwards v. Aguillard'' that creation science constitutes a religion and is prohibited in public education under the court's interpretation of the [[establishment clause]] of the [[First Amendment]] to the[[ United States Constitution]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q9rMi51o1-gC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146|author=Pamela Winnick|title=A Jealous God: Science's Crusade Against Religion|page= 146|location=[[Nashville]], [[Tennessee]]|publisher=Thomas Nelson Publishers|date=2005|ISBN=1-5955-5019-4|accessdate=February 8, 2020}}</ref>​

Scandal involving two of Nix's assistants rocketed his administration in July 1981. [[Charles E. Thompson]], the deputy superintendent for special education, was a native and former superintendent of Tensas Parish, also in northeastern Louisiana. Henry Leroy Smith, Jr. (1931-2012), originally from [[North Carolina]], was from 1976 to 1982 the assistant superintendent for special education.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=henry-leroy-smith&pid=155776801|title=Henry L. Smith|publisher=Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, February 5, 2012|accessdate=March 10, 2014}}</ref> Thompson and Smith were [[Indictment|indicted]] on ten counts by a [[grand jury]] in Baton Rouge in an alleged [[kickback]] scheme. The two were charged with shaking down the International Management System of [[Missouri]] to pay a percentage of its contract price from the state of Louisiana into a pool or a "kitty" in which the money was divided among Thompson, Smith, and a third man, Edward G. Ackal, a businessman from Lafayette,<ref>"Nix keeps deputies on payroll," ''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' July 31, 1981, p. 1.</ref> whose company Educational Products Corporation was engaged in the sale of goods and services to the state government.<ref name=courtcase/>​

Scandal involving two of Nix's assistants rocketed his administration in July 1981. [[Charles E. Thompson]], the deputy superintendent for special education, was a native and former superintendent of Tensas Parish, also in northeastern Louisiana. Henry Leroy Smith, Jr. (1931-2012), originally from [[North Carolina]], was from 1976 to 1982 the assistant superintendent for special education.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=henry-leroy-smith&pid=155776801|title=Henry L. Smith|publisher=Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, February 5, 2012|accessdate=March 10, 2014}}</ref> Thompson and Smith were [[Indictment|indicted]] on ten counts by a [[grand jury]] in Baton Rouge in an alleged [[kickback]] scheme. The two were charged with shaking down the International Management System of [[Missouri]] to pay a percentage of its contract price from the state of Louisiana into a pool or a "kitty" in which the money was divided among Thompson, Smith, and a third man, Edward G. Ackal, a businessman from Lafayette,<ref>"Nix keeps deputies on payroll," ''[[Minden Press-Herald]],'' July 31, 1981, p. 1.</ref> whose company Educational Products Corporation was engaged in the sale of goods and services to the state government.<ref name=courtcase/>​