A legislative committee on Wednesday unanimously advanced a bill to create a universal school voucher program in Wyoming amid concerns about costs, accountability and constitutionality.
The House Education Committee voted 9-0 to pass House Bill 199, “Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act.” The bill would transform and expand an existing state education savings account program that gives funds to income-qualified families to help them pay for pre-K programs, homeschooling or private school tuition. Version 2.0 would offer up to $7,000 per student regardless of a family’s need for non-public-school K-12 costs.
“Last year, we passed Wyoming’s first ESA law, but it was quite restrictive,” said the bill’s sponsor Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie. House Bill 199 aims to loosen many of those restrictions, drop the preschool component and make it universal. It would no longer require participating students to take statewide assessments or similar nationwide tests. Nor would the state require providers to be certified by the Department of Education, which the current ESA program stipulates.
Education groups and others testified strongly against the measure, saying it will only benefit wealthy families while it siphons significant funds from Wyoming’s already-struggling public school system. Superintendent of Public Instruction Megen Degenfelder is in favor of universal access, but requested that the pre-K, provider certification and testing requirements be reinstated.
Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, attempted to make amendments to address Degenfelder’s feedback, but they failed. The measure now heads to the House floor, where it must pass three readings before it can advance to the Senate.
For and against
The educational savings account program that passed the Legislature in 2024 traveled a rocky path to become law; it was transformed, killed, revived, amended scores of times, passed by the Legislature, then partially vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon. The tug-of-war reflected advocates’ divergent priorities: early childhood education for some, universal access to non-public-school choice for others.
House Bill 199 reflects a renewed push from the latter camp. Andrew cited programs in states like Utah and Arizona as models for what he wants to achieve in Wyoming. Among other changes, Andrew’s bill would change the funding mechanism from the general fund to state mineral royalty revenue.
One of the major concerns with the ESA bill, and again with HB 199, is its constitutionality. The Wyoming Constitution prohibits the state from giving money to individuals “except for the necessary support of the poor.” It also prohibits public funds to be used for private or parochial schools. Opponents who ranged from former teachers to parents, former school board trustees and education lobbyists raised that concern among others when urging lawmakers to abandon the bill.
Wyoming Education Association Government Relations Director Tate Mullen told the committee that when his organization analyzed HB 199, “it does fail on measurements of equity, cost effectiveness, administrative feasibility and effectiveness.”
The bill is unconstitutional, costly and extremely vulnerable to misuse of government funds, he said. “As the bill stands, there is no accountability here,” Mullen added. “Waste, fraud and abuse are much higher for these programs than any of our other social welfare programs.”
Brian Farmer, executive director of the Wyoming School Boards Association, urged lawmakers to examine the fiscal note that legislative staff drew up for the bill.
“It basically says, ‘hey this is going to cost us … $45 million a year to operate this program,’” he said. The result will drain the School Foundation Program, which the state is obligated to fund, he said. “And so, the fiscal consequence of funding the voucher program is that it has the potential to draw down the account to such a point that it could create a structural deficit.”
Farmer also voiced support for pre-K, which experts agree has significant return on investment. And he expressed concern about accountability.
Proponents, meanwhile, said the program puts more power in parents’ hands.
“We recognize the most important thing when it comes to a child’s education, and that’s parent involvement and parents ultimately making the choice that best suits their child’s needs,” said Tyler Lindholm, state director for Americans for Prosperity Wyoming and a former lawmaker, who spoke in support.
Aaron Gillum is the policy and advocacy director for EdChoice, a national organization that works to advance education choice. Wyoming families are seeking alternative options, Gillum said, and HB 199 creates those.
Gilllum countered the narrative of many voucher opponents who said the programs have led to budget and fraud problems in other states. “Arizona and states that have enacted robust school choice programs have not seen a budget crisis because of these programs,” he said.
In 2024, Arizona did face a significant budget shortfall, ProPublica reported. Because of a $1.4-billion deficit resulting from unexpected spending on the voucher program, “alongside some recent revenue losses, Arizona is now having to make deep cuts to a wide swath of critical state programs and projects,” ProPublica reported. The Arizona Department of Education disputes that the program harmed its budget.
Stewardship
“There are really some strong voices on both for and against here,” Rep. Lawley said after public testimony. She argued that making amendments to address concerns such as those of Superintendent Degenfelder “will kind of help quell some of the concerns” and signal that “we are going to be faithful stewards of this process.”
Lawley attempted to make an amendment to reinstate the testing requirements for students, but it failed on a tie vote. A similar fate met her attempt to reinstate the provider certification.
The committee then voted 9-0 to advance it, with aye votes from Republican Reps. Andrew, Lawley, Laurie Brattan, McKay Erickson, Joel Guggenmos, Tom Kelly, Daniel Singh, Tomi Strock and JD Williams.
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