Legislative Update 2025: Week Three


It may sound like a broken record: another week of anti-public education rhetoric at the Capitol.

Let’s start with some good news! The 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress results were released this week, and again Wyoming educators and students prove that our state’s public education system is one of the best in the nation. Wyoming students surpassed the NAEP average in all categories, save one (where it was on par nationally). Congratulations to our educators who make the Wyoming public education system one of the best in the nation!

Despite the consistent achievement of our students and educators, the attacks by anti-public education politicians continued this week with the introduction of new bills:

HB335 – Wyoming Educational Religious Freedom Act is unconstitutionally vague and would create a chilling effect on education. The bill seems to be an attempt to roll national anti-public education rhetoric (CRT, social-emotional learning, teacher lessons material requirements and anti-trans sentiments) into one omnibus bill.

SF188 – Teacher Tenure returned this session. This bill would eliminate continuing contract status for Wyoming educators, robbing them of due process and opening the door for unwarranted and unjustified terminations.

SF162 Education Block Grant Model Amendments pulls teacher salaries out of the block grant. This is done under the auspice that it allows teacher salaries to be fully funded; however, the starting salary would be roughly $42,000/year and would open districts up to the potential of additional cuts

HB315 – K12 Public Education Reorganization attempts to move the State Board of Education and the State Board of Career and Technical Education under the authority and purview of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI). This is particularly problematic as these boards are non-political and work on state standards and many other non-partisan education related issues. These boards will inevitably become political, and it may be a means to create a rubber stamp for the SSPI on issues relating to standards and their own political positions.

The process for recalibration of educational funding began Monday, in a meeting largely dealing with the new committee composition that will oversee the work. SSPI Degenfelder and her team made efforts to capture the recalibration process and insert their will into the process. This was attempted in 2020, in an effort to minimize the voices of educators, education professionals and other public education experts and instead replace them with voices from business, private schools, charter schools and others. At that time, the effort was defeated and the bill that moved forward provides for a recalibration that prioritizes educator input. WEA will continue to monitor this process.

The voucher bill, HB199, had its final passage through the House on Wednesday evening. A significant amount of discussion opposing the bill took place, and efforts to put guardrails on the bill were attempted to provide measures for accountability, designation of education service providers, and moving the funding mechanism to the general fund. These efforts all failed, and the bill is as problematic as it was from the beginning. The bill now goes to the Senate, where an introductory vote is expected next week.

That said, WEA conducted a statewide poll using an outside Republican polling firm to understand the support that universal vouchers would have in the state. Polling only Wyoming Republicans, results indicate that 68 percent of those surveyed “oppose” or “strongly oppose” universal school vouchers. With 11 percent unsure, only 22 percent of those Republicans surveyed support vouchers in some capacity. There are several other significant findings in the survey; you can read all about it here.

Financially, the attacks on public education continue. The external cost adjustment has been cut from $66.3 million to only $48.8, leaving a $17.5 million dollar gap. Additionally, with the multiple property tax relief efforts, cuts to the School Foundation Program in HB270 and HB271, removal of the cap on charter school authorizations, and the voucher program, the state may be headed toward a significant structural deficit in education funding.

Finally, HB200 will be heard in the House Education Committee Friday upon the noon recess! (HB100 will likely come up early next week.) The only means to stop these horrendous bills is to flood the committee room and make a massive public statement of opposition. If you want to become engaged, please reach out to Government Relations Director Tate Mullen.

One more item: yes, we are aware that some in the anti-public education camp are distributing information on social media and elsewhere (and improperly using the WEA logo on their materials). Simply put, their content is wrong, misleading, and not an accurate representation at all of what’s really happening with legislation.