We all know that what happens at The Capitol in Cheyenne impacts Wyoming’s classrooms. From advocating for pro-public education policy at the statehouse to identifying and supporting high quality school board candidates, WEA’s Political Action Committee for Education (WEA PACE) supports resources for the crucial legislative and political action work that drives good policy and shapes the legislation impacting education.
Questions? Contact WEA Membership Specialist, Linda Bottom.
Legislators Report Card
WEA’s Legislative Report Card is a grading system for lawmakers that provides an avenue for educators, education advocates, citizens, and legislators to engage with WEA on bills impacting education.
A point system based on bills’ priority and potential positive or negative impact on education is assigned to both sponsorship and votes for or against legislation. These points accumulate to result in an overall grade for each Wyoming legislator — reflecting their overall level of support for public education in Wyoming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Funds from WEA dues are not used to make contributions to candidates or political parties.
We endorse candidates who will protect safe and quality professional working conditions for all education employees, support due process rights for all education employees, continue support for the constitutional mandate for equitable and adequate funding, and support adequate funding for K-12 and community colleges.
Every Wyoming candidate who filed for political office was invited to participate in the endorsement process. Candidates seeking the WEA-PACE endorsement participated in an extensive process starting with completing a questionnaire, then participating in an interview at the local level. Statewide candidates were interviewed at the WEA headquarters in Cheyenne, while WEA members interviewed legislative candidates in their districts. Once interviews were completed, the Candidate Interview Teams, made up of WEA members in communities throughout the state, made recommendations to the WEA-PACE Council for endorsements.
Candidates could receive endorsement for both primary election and general election or just for the primary election. The WEA-PACE Council will convene again after the August election to determine several additional general election endorsements.
WEA-PACE will provide assistance to endorsed candidates, ranging from monetary donations to WEA member grassroots support.
In some cases, candidates chose not to complete the questionnaire and interview. This happens for many reasons; the candidate may be unopposed, may be unavailable during the interview window, or may not desire an endorsement from WEA-PACE. In other situations the local may have determined that no candidate in that race supports the WEA legislative platform at the desired level, and therefore chose not to support any candidate.
