Foster Friess’ Magic School Bill rides into the law books — 2019 Legislative recap
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’ proposal to remove county authority over private schools moves forward
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.
House committee votes to remove standardized test scores from Wyoming teacher evaluations
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.
Foster Friess’ pet private school bill moves forward
Senators shrugged off concerns over local control and potential lawsuits to further special legislation on behalf of the billionaire's private religious academy.
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.
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.
Abrupt closure of successful institute demonstrates another UW leadership failure
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.
Exit Interview: Rattawut Lapcharoensap and June Glasson — The (hidden) costs of the UW budget cuts (VIDEO)
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.
UW Board moves to grant itself unchecked power over reshaping the university during financial crisis
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.
Rumors of a budget deal suggest no deep cuts to public schools this year
This session that saw threats of public school funding cuts as large as $80 million a year. But as a final deal nears, only a small fraction of those cuts remain, which education advocates are scoring as a win.
Education advocates reluctantly root for the lesser evil in the Senate
The Senate is considering a bill that would cut roughly $15 million a year from Wyoming public schools—but it's far better than the Senate budget proposal, which would annually cut about $80 million.
While the Senate looks to slash education, a House proposal would modernize revenue streams to put less toward savings and more toward schools
The two chambers will meet next week to negotiate a solution. At stake is whether Wyoming will take a more modern approach that saves public schools, or whether it will stubbornly keep pouring money into savings and decimate education.
Senate passes oil and gas tax break while Wyoming faces a budget crisis
The Senate's cuts to education are apparently their way of paying for tax breaks for oil and gas companies.