Wyoming lawmakers capped special education spending in 2018, leaving school districts wondering how to cover the costs of services children need.

As state money for special education dries up, Wyoming looks to Medicaid

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Dwindling mineral revenues threaten Wyoming’s ability to provide costly special education services. Legislators can pursue federal Medicaid funds to help, like most states do. But they’re learning there’s no such thing as easy money.
Lawmakers struggle to understand that zero new revenues is the wrong answer.

Lawmakers fail to figure out new revenues for Wyoming public school funding, but avoid further cuts—2019 Legislative recap

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After three consecutive years of deep cuts to the Wyoming public education budget, the Legislature relented this session. But without stable sources of revenue, more school cuts are likely on the way.
Foster and his zany school bill crew. From rear: Sen. Mike Gierau, former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis, Sen. Eli Bebout, Stephen Friess, Foster Friess

Foster Friess’ Magic School Bill rides into the law books — 2019 Legislative recap

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Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the bill to become law today without signing it. The debate over what Gordon called “flawed” legislation pitted “school choice” advocates against defenders of local control.
Foster Friess likes playing with his new toy.

Foster Friess’ proposal to remove county authority over private schools moves forward

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The billionaire megadonor’s bill faces stiff opposition from the Wyoming County Commissioners Association. The commissioners argue that it would strip local control from all Wyoming counties in the process of helping Friess’ pet project.
Students and teachers will both be better off with less emphasis placed on standardized testing.

House committee votes to remove standardized test scores from Wyoming teacher evaluations

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The practice of judging teachers by their students' standardized test scores has been criticized since it was adopted in Wyoming prior to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
(From left) Sens. Chris Rothfuss, Lynn Hutchings, Hank Coe, and Bill Landen voted unanimously to move Foster's bill ahead.

Foster Friess’ pet private school bill moves forward

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Senators shrugged off concerns over local control and potential lawsuits to further special legislation on behalf of the billionaire's private religious academy.
Wyoming students in kindergarten through third grade may soon receive less attention as a result of shady policy decisions.

The Legislature didn’t increase class sizes. But lawmakers who want to cut Wyoming education budgets have found a back-channel way to do it.

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The State School Facilities Commission has one job: to make sure Wyoming students have good schools. But the commission has inserted itself into the debate over education budget cuts—and it's hard to believe the commissioners came up with the idea on their own.
Wyoming schoolchildren head out to collect bugs as part of a Biodiversity Institute program. The institute engaged thousands of Wyoming K-12 students in hands-on science.

Abrupt closure of successful institute demonstrates another UW leadership failure

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The decision to close the University of Wyoming's Biodiversity Institute will hurt the school's fundraising and community engagement efforts—not to mention scientific learning on campus and throughout the state.
When talented, young faculty members leave Wyoming, they take their talented, young families with them.

Exit Interview: Rattawut Lapcharoensap and June Glasson — The (hidden) costs of the UW budget cuts (VIDEO)

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EXIT INTERVIEWS is a new series profiling talented people who are leaving Wyoming as a result of boneheaded policy decisions. This episode features a (former) UW professor and his wife, a (former) pillar of the Laramie arts community.
The UW Good Ol' Board of Trustees is taking over.

UW Board moves to grant itself unchecked power over reshaping the university during financial crisis

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The board will vote next week to give itself the ability to single-handedly fire tenured faculty, cancel courses, and eliminate academic departments—big responsibilities for a group that's proven itself incompetent.