Debate over school choice bill continues

The nation’s culture wars have come home to roost at the Wyoming legislature’s 2025 session. 

Between theatrical performances by state representatives that have included unfounded accusations of lobbying, myriad bills — some with the backing of Washington, D.C. based political action committees — taking aim at issues fit for national headlines have invaded the legislative chambers. Among those bills is HB0199, a school voucher program known as The Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act.

If the bill passes the state senate and is signed into law, it would provide individual students with $7,000 annually in public funding for their online education or homeschooling expenses through an educational savings account (ESA).

HB0199, which passed in the house on Jan. 29, states in part that monies received from both the federal government, and the state’s mineral fund and mine operators will be divided between the state’s public education system and the ESA program at a ratio of 53% to 47% annually. It further states that students must attend a “qualified school,” which is defined as an institution approved by the state superintendent of public instruction. The program is open to any child who is a Wyoming state resident, has not graduated from high school or received an equivalency certificate (i.e. a GED diploma), and eligible to attend public school in the state. 

The program would require the ESA student receive instruction in “reading, writing, mathematics, civics, including studies of the United States constitution and the constitution of the state of Wyoming, history, literature and science and is assessed on academic progress.” The legislation continues, “No parents shall be required to include any instruction that conflicts with the parent’s or the ESA student’s religious doctrines.”

If the legislation becomes law, $30 million in public funds will be appropriated from the Wyoming general fund, effective immediately.

In Big Horn County, superintendents Doug Hazen of Lovell and Mark Fritz of Greybull both expressed their disappointment with the legislature, saying they felt frustrated. Worse, they said, was the feeling their concerns were not heard by local representatives and the sense that national politics have trickled down into the state legislature.

“I have concern that this bill — and others out there — have not originated in Wyoming, but rather outside of Wyoming,” Hazen said. “We generally talk ‘Wyoming first,’ but, to some degree, it feels like there’s a national narrative we’re getting caught up in. I would like to see if we’re putting ourselves first.”

Fritz agreed with Hazen, saying, “Let’s make bills for Wyoming.”

Although Hazen and the Lovell school board did not make the trek to Cheyenne to observe the session, Fritz said that he and the Greybull school board did. He recalled observing multiple public school superintendents as they spoke before the education committee on the hazards of HB0199 and described many of them as making compelling arguments and points about the risks posed by the legislation, only for the committee to immediately approve HB0199 for introduction on the house floor.

“They didn’t listen to the crowd, at all,” he said. “It did not seem like they were taking the superintendents seriously.”

Fritz has since met with Representative Dalton Banks and Senator Dan Laursen while Hazen has met with Laursen as well to express their concerns one-to-one.

Neither superintendent feels the proposed legislation has value or purpose in Wyoming.

“You look around and (public schools) are it,” Fritz said, referring to the desolate landscape of the Big Horn Basin. “And we have a great public school system in this state.

“Instead of doing (school vouchers), we ought to allow parents to send their children to any public school in the state, regardless of their district. We should be able to send a bus to Basin and Basin should be able to send a bus here. From there, the market and demand will decide.”

Hazen said that although he believes families reserve the right to homeschool their children, it is not a viable option for every family.

“You need resources, time and expertise, and not every family has that, unfortunately,” he explained. “And so you need an alternative and those kids need to go somewhere, and that typically falls back on the public schools. I believe public schools are a fundamental building block to our society.

“What I’m concerned about is if this is even constitutional,” he continued. “We’re just giving public funds right to people with zero accountability and none of the same standards that public schools are held to. Giving money without accountability in a state that wants to be fiscally responsible feels like a hand out.”

The lack of accountability was a sticking point for both superintendents. Fritz added that studies have shown students who leave the public school system to partake in school voucher programs typically have lower standardized test scores than their peers in the public education system. 

Meanwhile, residents across the state have reported seeing television ads and posts about the ads on social media, including Facebook, which encourage them to call their state representatives to express support for HB0199. The ads are funded by the Club for Growth, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm that has invested millions of dollar in supporting candidates who agree with school choice programs. 

On its website, the Club for Growth states its number one education policy proposal recommendation is to “Close down the U.S. Department of Education and end the federal government’s role in education” something education advocates say will eliminate protections for special needs students, civil rights protections and Title I funding, which covers remedial educational materials, technology and mental health services.