Governor: Paying for both public ed, expanded school choice poses ‘substantial concerns’ for Wyoming

RIVERTON—School choice advocates made major legislative advances in Wyoming this year with the passage of a universal school voucher program and the removal of caps on charter school approvals.

Now, paying for these initiatives on top of the state’s already large constitutional obligation to fund public education will be a challenge, Gov. Mark Gordon said. 

“I have substantial concerns,” Gordon told WyoFile during an interview Friday in at Central Wyoming College. “I think the Legislature’s got a very tall task to understand how they’re going to be able to fund all of these things.”

Another major factor at play is the February ruling from Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher that the Wyoming Legislature has been constitutionally underfunding education and must remedy that. 

“The state just got stung with a lawsuit, and I think the judge was pretty clear about needing to meet the requirements under the [Wyoming] Constitution for funding education,” Gordon said. “We, at the same time, have provided a lot more school choice. And all of those things are coming due.”

Wyoming’s new Steamboat Legacy Scholarship education savings account program is scheduled to open its application process to families Thursday. The program will give up to $7,000 per K-12 student to Wyoming families to pay for private education costs. The bill that created it was hotly debated in the Legislature, with critics asserting that it plainly violates the constitution. 

Along with that, the Legislature overrode Gordon’s attempt to veto a bill that removed the cap on the number of charter schools Wyoming’s new authorizing board could approve. 

While a school-choice supporter, Gordon wrote in his veto letter, “I cannot, in good conscience, approve an expansion in charter schools at a time when our public education system faces significant financial uncertainty and the framework to support the expansion of Charter Schools remains incomplete.”

Finally, Wyoming lawmakers are gearing up to undergo “recalibration.” The process, which is mandated every five years, entails a comprehensive review of how Wyoming funds education and what it offers students in its so-called “basket of goods,” or what is being taught.

In the wake of the court ruling against Wyoming, many anticipate the process will force lawmakers to pony up more money. Plaintiffs hope it results in everything from better teacher pay to more mental health resources at schools. 

“The State’s failures have affected Wyoming children’s right to a proper education,” Froelicher wrote in the 186-page ruling. The judge ordered the state to modify its funding model in manners consistent with its obligation.

Wyoming will challenge the court decision, according to a March notice of appeal filed in Laramie District Court.

Still, Gordon said the various education factors have created a difficult task. 

“I think the Legislature was very good about providing choice, but they were not necessarily measured in a way that they understood what the consequences would be,” Gordon said.

Legislators also passed a law to significantly cut property taxes, which will result in declining local revenues for school districts around the state.  

Reimagining 

Gordon was at Central Wyoming College in Riverton for a celebration of his administration’s Reimagine and Innovate the Delivery of Education Initiative, or RIDE. The program, which aims at fundamentally rethinking Wyoming’s traditional education models with more emphasis on student-led learning, is wrapping up its second year of implementation. 

Twenty school districts have signed up to participate, with nine districts serving as pilot schools in the inaugural 2023/24 school year and another round joining for the school year that is ending.

The program has been hard to nail down given the scope of schools and curricula involved, but events like Friday’s bring forth tangible examples of what it looks like: firing off rockets and using range finders to understand mathematical concepts; honing the art of meaningful conversations in an era dominated by cellphones; sending students to gain clinical experience by working hospital shifts and teaching students how to complete the real-world task of tax filing. 

While traveling the state to see the educational strategies firsthand, Gordon has witnessed Cody students interning at law offices, Powell students learning taxidermy in art class and Kemmerer students who get a chance to coach PE. 

“They’re unique, but they all have a commonality of kids coming away with basic things that they need … that will help them graduate and go on and be successful,” Gordon said. 

Wyoming shouldn’t be concerned with national trends, he told the audience in a speech kicking off the RIDE event. “We should be worrying about what we’re able to accomplish,” he said. “Wyoming is a leader.”

Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder also spoke at the RIDE Celebration, saying the first two years of the program “are only the beginning.”

She framed the program as a way to clear obstacles or regulations from the education landscape, “and have the room to really move and innovate.”

Degenfelder’s education department is the agency tasked with standing up the school voucher program that opens applications this week. She has been a strong advocate of both school choice and limited government, and noted in her Friday speech that Wyoming is in a “historic” time as it relates to the federal government. 

President Donald Trump in March signed an executive order that set out a plan to close the federal Department of Education and return power to states.

“We have a unique opportunity, this window of time, that we can truly take what the feds are saying that they want to give more back to the states,” Degenfelder said, “and we can replicate what we’re doing here today all across the state.”