Rekindling a still-smouldering debate from last year’s legislative session, Laramie Republican Rep. Ocean Andrew on Thursday brought House Bill 199, “Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act” — a measure that would bring universal school vouchers to Wyoming.
Lawmakers created a new program in 2024 to give income-qualified families up to $6,000 in state funds to offset private school fees, pre-K tuition or homeschool education costs.
School choice advocates wanted to extend the program to all Wyomingites with school-aged kids, but legislative compromises and line-item vetoes from Gov. Mark Gordon kept the money earmarked for families who earn up to 150% of the federal poverty level — $48,800 for a family of four.
Andrew’s measure would transform that newly implemented education savings account program into a universal school voucher program.
The Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act would offer up to $7,000 per family in the 2025-26 school year (and more thereafter based on inflation adjustments) for non-public-school K-12 costs like private or religious school tuition or homeschool equipment. The bill would do away with the pre-K inclusion as well as the income qualification of the ESA program.
The latter change flies in the face of constitutionality concerns that have hovered over the legislation since early days of drafting. The Wyoming Constitution prohibits the state from giving money to individuals “except for the necessary support of the poor.” It also prohibits public funds to be used for private or parochial schools.
“Vouchers benefit the wealthiest families,” said Kim Amen, president of the Wyoming Education Association, which is staunchly opposed to the measure. “They often go to families who can already afford to send their kids to private schools, leaving the other students, the most vulnerable, left behind.”
The bill makes Wyoming vulnerable to expensive legal challenges due to its unconstitutional nature, she said.
But Tyler Lindholm, state director for Americans for Prosperity Wyoming and a former lawmaker, said the new bill improves on the foundation laid by the 2024 education savings account program in a way he believes threads some important needles.
“We at Americans for Prosperity kind of take the stance that every child and every family should be able to make that choice for their children,” he said of educational models. “Regardless of where everybody lands in this situation and how funds should be utilized, I think everybody ends up agreeing that parents are the best decision makers for children.”
A rocky path
The ESA measure was transformed, killed, revived, amended scores of times, passed by the Legislature, then partially vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon in March before finally becoming law. The tug-of-war reflected advocates’ divergent priorities: early childhood education for some, universal access to non-public-school choice for others.
A pair of 2023 voucher bills would have given families $6,000 per K-12 student for tuition at any non-governmental school or related educational expenses. Both failed, but a new proposal that would extend the money to early childhood education costs emerged from the ashes.
One iteration of that bill survived the Legislature. It had a tiered system based on a family’s income relative to the federal poverty level — $6,000 for families earning 150% or below; $4,800 for families earning 150%-200%; $3,600 for families earning 200%-250%; all the way up to $400 for families earning 450%-500%. For a family of four, 500% of the federal poverty level is an annual income of $156,000.
With his veto pen, Gordon eliminated eligibility for all but families at or below 150%. Officials built the administrative infrastructure for the ESA program over the summer and applications opened Jan. 1.
School choice advocates, however, expressed a desire to expand it, which is what the new bill would do. More than 30 Wyoming-Freedom-Caucus-aligned senators and representatives are listed as bill co-sponsors.
The Freedom Scholarship Act would amend the current program by:
- Changing the funding source from the general fund to state mineral royalty revenue.
- Increasing the annual allotment to $7,000, and allowing for that amount to be adjusted based on inflation.
- Stripping the pre-K cost inclusion and narrowing eligible students to grades K-12.
- Stripping the requirement for participating students to take either statewide assessments or a nationally normed achievement exam.
What they are saying
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megen Degenfelder proclaimed her support for the hard-right Freedom Caucus ahead of the session and specifically referenced removing the income restrictions on education savings accounts in her legislative priorities.
“Our future is under attack by extreme ideologies and federal overreach that have no place in Wyoming,” Degenfelder said in a statement. “This legislative agenda is about standing firm against this assault, protecting our families and resources, empowering parents, and ensuring every student is equipped to succeed with the values that make Wyoming strong.”
The Wyoming Education Association’s Amen, however, said voucher programs are harmful to education systems, particularly the rural kind that exist in much of Wyoming.
“This one, with its overwhelming lack of accountability, the amount of money that they’re pouring into it and the automatic built-in [cost adjustment], is especially disturbing,” she said. “It’s also unconstitutional, because the Wyoming State Constitution will not allow us to give public funds to private entities.”
My daughter and son-in-law in New York pay $7000 a year to have their son in the Aquinas Institute of Rochester, a private Catholic college-prep school. That is their choice and they don’t expect the state of New York to pay it on their behalf. Parents who want their children in private schools need to be prepared to pay for it themselves. Many private schools offer scholarships to lower-income parents. This Wyoming bill is no more than a blatant effort by the Freedom Caucus to encourage the establishment of religious-based schools to further the Freedom Caucus’s “Godly” ideology and make the state pay for it. How this bad piece of legislation got as far as it did is inconceivable to me, and it is clearly designed to hobble public education. Parents who want their children in private school must pay for it themselves. Also children whose parents refuse to vaccinate them should be in private school (if allowed) or homeschooled, not in public institutions. These parental choices have consequences.
The ESA program isn’t even happening yet, applications are just now being taken for the 2025/2026 school year, and already you fools want to expand the concept. Maybe you could practice a little patience and see where this program takes us and how well it does or doesn’t work.
To have a program that has no means of accountability is asinine. You’re just handing out free money, oops there’s no such thing as free money, unless you’re the recipient. There are a lot of us that graduated from public schools………and, there are also adults whose education was provided by private, parochial or home schools, paid with private dollars. Parents have always had a choice. I do not want my tax dollars subsidizing a child’s private education. It’s as simple as that. You don’t like public schools fine, put your money where you mouth is, pony up, suck up and accept the responsibility that goes along with your choice.
Lastly, our politicians want to eliminate/discount the first X (insert one or two) million dollars of valuation on residences in order to give Wyoming homeowners property tax relief. What service benefits the most from your property taxes? It’s your local public school district. So you start throwing money at parents for private education, you reduce property taxes, what’s going to suffer the most? I think it’s the public school system. That’s not acceptable.
I do not see much if any consideration being given to some of the hardships that this cash infusion will potentially have on the lower income demographic that this bill purports to be trying to help. Even relatively modest sums of additional yearly household income may impact families in some unanticipated ways. Many may no longer qualify for other necessary benefits, credits, programs, or much needed assistance with food, shelter, or help with a disability; and trying to account for these disbursements will become a horrible nightmare for everyone involved. Let’s hope that this chunk of pork gets run through the grinder several more times before they try to ram this sausage down our throats.
For Wyoming legislators Dick and Jane, this is simple:
Public funds fund public schools.
Private funds fund private schools.
Parents choose: to put their child in a public school or non-public school.
No one is taking away their choice.
Taxpayers have a choice too.
Taxpayers choose: to fund public schools or not fund public schools.
Private schools are businesses.
Public funds are not to be used for private businesses.
Anyone voting to use tax dollars for private school businesses will have a dunce cap placed on their head, and given a stool to sit on, in the corner, facing the wall.
I didn’t realize that taxpayers could choose not to fund government schools.
Please explain how to do that.
I just want to mention to the other commentary, that I’m a mother of two boys in public school in Evanston, middle schoolers… I won’t mention specific schools. One 7th grader is handicapped but high functioning and the other is a regular 6th grade boy with some distractions. But my boys and thier schools spend 99% of the time in school either preparing for or taking the standard state assessments. I’m not even kidding. As soon as one is over another begins. Prepaid prepaid prepair… test test test…. I don’t think they should be completely abolished but it sure would be nice to spend some time actually teaching them the information rather then just teaching them how to fill in the bubbles correctly. They seem to have no ctual time for the education it self just preparation for the tests. 5 plus assessments in a school year is unnecessary. But we do deffinatly need to assessments at least a little especially for home schoolers because unfortunately there are bad actors even in wyoming and some bad actors just are too lazy to actually bring thier kids home to teach them instead not educating them and what they don’t know won’t help them reach out for help 3ither. Child abuse an neglect is a real crisis and even happens here. I dont think we should support private options so much. Our kids come home at night and we talk about history that they don’t teach in school just the same. We just need to bridge the gap into our public schools is all
How much more good that amount of funding could do to IMPROVE public education, fund MEALS, EQUIPMENT, etc., as needed at schools. Such a shameful agenda for the religious RITE. What would Jesus do?
Jesus would shut down the government school system, as it does not support Him or his teachings.
The Freedom Caucus folks have become really great at spreading hate and discontent, but now are diversifying their repertoire to include inventing problems that we don’t really have and creating solutions for those made-up problems that only make things worse.
Mr. Lindholm, that your organization would “kind of take the stance” does not make it any more constitutional.
Perhaps a return to the original country/rural school model should be considered: Parents of a like mind in an area can pool their resources, erect a school, and hire a schoolmarm. Rather than be subsidized with public dollars, they wouldn’t be required to pay that portion of their property taxes that goes to education, but instead could put that money into their own school. That would also be more fair to people who don’t have children in the system but still pay to support it. They could opt out of the education funding portion of their taxes, knowing they’re not paying to support ideologies in which they don’t believe, either liberal or conservative. Abolishing the Dept of Education would facilitate the process changeover. Hope I’m not being too subtle, here.
Such schemes in other states are benefiting those who are already sending their kids to private schools while so severely underfunding public schools that they are closing them. The Wyoming constitution clearly states that we don’t pay for ANY private schools, so electeds who promote or vote for this are breaking their oath to protect and defend our constitution.
It’s unconstitutional. The state is providing a free education to every child k-12 in Wyoming. And no testing accountability? That’s just stupid.
No accountability? This is ridiculous. How convenient for Ms.Degenfelder and Gov. Gordon. They get off the hook for doing their jobs of ensuring that Wyoming kids are being educated. There will be no measures on how our tax dollars are being utilized for education. Public education has never been perfect, don’t throw in the towel because you are afraid of the hard work it takes to make it right.
“Stripping the requirement for participating students to take either statewide assessments or a nationally normed achievement exam.”
So our tax dollars give you $7000 a year per kid and no accountability? What are you afraid of? I thought you said the public schools weren’t doing the job. Wouldn’t you want to prove that by having your kids do better on standardized tests than the public school kids? I’ve been retired for several years but I would relish the opportunity to compare achievement levels of my pre-calculus kids at Kelly Walsh High School with like-ability home-school/private/religious school kids.