Gov. Matt Mead approved a budget amendment Wednesday that could make it impossible for a set of science standards, commonly referred to as NGSS, to be adopted in the state.
“I’m really disappointed with how all of this went down,” said Pete Gosar, the Wyoming Board of Education Treasurer. “It hasn’t been successful to mix politics and education in this state, so legislative action such as this is really unhelpful to the whole process.”
The NGSS standards began facing opposition late last year. The State Board of Education delayed the final decision to adopt the standards after a public outcry, headed by citizen groups such as Wyoming Citizens Opposing Common Core, called for more information on the standards.
The standards review process began close to two years ago when the Wyoming Department of Education organized a standards review committee to research and gather information regarding possible new science standards for state adoption.
“I want the governor’s office and the involved legislators to address why they did this,” Gosar said. “A large number of educators, from K-12 teachers to college professors, spent a lot of time throughout the last year and a half researching and choosing those standards.”
The committee was formed in response to a report issued by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an east coast education think tank. The document ranked Wyoming’s science standards as some of the lowest in the country.
“Groups opposed to the adoption of the recommended standards cite the Fordham Institute’s criticisms of the NGSS,” said Gosar. “But they’re ignoring the fact that Fordham ranked our current standards much worse.”
Citizen opposition groups are not the only forces in the state that find fault with the NGSS, however.
As outlined on the Next Generation Science website, a key component of the standard’s curriculum is the effect of humans on the planet. The section of the NGSS that specifically focuses on this is referred to as K-ESS3.
“Examples of human impact on the land could include cutting trees to produce paper and using resources to produce bottles. Examples of solutions could include reusing paper and recycling cans and bottles,” the website said, outlining the specific core concepts that students will need to comprehend under the parameter of the NGSS.
The idea of human activity impacting the planet, resulting in far reaching consequences, is one of the components of the NGSS that groups of citizens, and Wyoming politicians, oppose.
During Mead’s 2010 campaign against Leslie Petersen, he publicly stated he was “unconvinced that climate change is man-made,” according to a ThinkProgress article that covered the 2010 Wyoming Governor race.
Mead’s latest budget illustrates the important role he hopes coal and fossil fuels will play in the energy future of the state. The NGSS standards stress the need for renewable energy sources and sustainability.
The amendment that prevents the funding of further NGSS review or adoption was written and submitted to the floor by Rep. Matt Teeters, R – Lingle, as a rider bill. Mead would have had the option to line-item veto the particular amendment because it was submitted as part of the budget session debate, said Rep. Albert Sommers, R- Pinedale, a member of the House Education Committee.
“When the list of line-item vetoes came back to [the House] from the Governor’s office, I did not see that bill amongst them,” said Sommers.
Mead approved that segment of the bill without attempting to veto.
“As to what Governor Mead’s thoughts and opinions of the amendment itself were, I can’t say,” Sommers said.
The debate over the NGSS played a large role in the budget discussions this past legislative session, despite the fact that some legislators felt it was not the appropriate setting.
“I really support the idea of examining this issue during the interim,” said Sommers. “I think we need to utilize a more deliberate standard setting process where there’s more transparency with the public, and everyone feels as though their concerns are being addressed.”
Members of the WBE believe their efforts to include the general population throughout the adoption process were effective and clearly implemented.
“Saying that the public was not involved in this process is simply not true,” Gosar said. “Not many people know what’s in the NGSS, no one’s taken the time to read them. We made that information available, but no one seemed interested in learning about them.”
There appears to be no real opposition to the educational approach of the standards amongst the legislative levels of the government, Gosar said, merely an ideological and economic one.
“They couldn’t point to the standard or standards that disagree with the scientific approach,” Gosar said. “So why was this bill passed?”
Mead’s office was unavailable for comment.
