Among the many pieces of legislation the Wyoming State Legislature has been taken into consideration over the course of the past few weeks, the pieces concerning education have caused some of the largest stir. With House Bill 100 leading the charge in controversy, allowing anyone to serve as an educator with no undergraduate degree requirements.
This bill faced heavy opposition by most educators and a variety of legislative critics within Wyoming as it would fundamentally change the entire of the education system in the state. Some of the language reads, “A charter school governing board may adopt policies and procedures to employ administrators, teachers and other personnel without a certification or permit issued by the Wyoming professional teaching standards board.”
This directly outlines that even principals and potentially school psychologists, para-professionals, and special education teachers could be included in this change. In addition to House Bill 100, a bill banning the use of cellphones in schools has been circulated, stating that the Board of Trustees in every school district will, “Adopt policies to prohibit students from using cellular telephones and smart watches during instructional time.”
The bill provides no mechanism for enforcement nor does it tackle the idea that restricting cell-phone usage may not be a point of desire within each district. It also uses broad terminology in terms of what constitutes “instructional time.” The bill attempts to assist with the epidemic of students using cellphones and thus being
distracted in classes, but many believe it to be unnecessary as many schools already have individualized policies and enforce the banning of cellphone use at teacher discretion.
These bills come after the already approved House Bill 199, a universal voucher program bill that provides up to $7,000 to households who homeschool their children while also removing income based requirements and going hand-in-hand with policies that no longer homeschool parents to report or validate their educating of the children in any form.
Many criticized the bill as it was passed through the legislature both due to ethical concerns that the Wyoming Constitution, which elaborates that state money shall not be distributed to individuals, “except for the necessary support of the poor.” Despite opposition from the community, some of the senior-most legislators, and educators around the state, the bill was pushed through the House. In the world of mental health, school psychologists and mental health professionals have offered concerns about House Bill 200, which requires any
actions taken regarding student mental health in any form to require parental notification and approval. In addition, it concerns DEI in a variety of ways, allowing for opting out of any DEI related trainings, and for parents to refuse to allow students to engage in any class or course content concerning DEI. While this is favorably
looked upon by much of Wyoming, concerns have been raised over the relatively vague language and the oversight of parents in terms of curricula.
While many of these bills are supported in theory by much of Wyoming, a lack of detail, enforcement mechanisms, and an overall abundance of vague terminology allowing for loopholes and abuse plague the legislation to a point that many of the education bills proposed this session have been vehemently spoken against by Wyoming legislators and educators alike.
