(Riverton, WY) – One of the legislative proposals the Riverton School Board voted to oppose last month is still progressing through the Wyoming Legislature, but Trustee Lori Morrow says it won’t have “as huge of an impact” in its current form based on a change made to the bill in the Wyoming Senate.
Previously, House Bill 199 – Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act, proposed funding the state’s new Education Savings Account program through a diversion from the state public school foundation program account, but this week Morrow told the Riverton School Board that the legislation has since been modified to provide funding for the ESA program out of the state general fund instead.
“So it’s not going to have as huge of an impact on school districts as we had at first thought,” Morrow said during a school board meeting this week.
Regardless, Wyoming Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, voted against HB 199 on third reading in the Senate last week, criticizing the “financial incentive” it gives for families to “drop out” of public school and “do their own education.”
“There are amazing children that get great educations through private school and through homeschooling, but the financial incentive shouldn’t be one of them,” he said.
Wyoming Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep, voted against HB 199 on third reading, too, advocating for the small, rural schools in his Senate District that could lose students as a result of the legislation.
“I understand what we’re trying to do with this bill, and I support a lot of the ideas of it,” he said. “But I still have to stand by my school districts.”
The Wyoming House of Representatives voted not to concur with the changes the Wyoming Senate made to HB 199 last week, so a Joint Conference Committee met Thursday to work out the differences between the two bodies, which mainly involved the inclusion of pre-kindergarten students in the bill.
The other legislative proposal the Riverton School Board voted to oppose last month – House Bill 100, K-12 uncertified personnel – was not reported out of the House Education Committee before the cutoff date this month.