Laramie Republican Rep. Ocean Andrew has championed controversial education bills in the Wyoming Legislature this session — bills opponents have called unconstitutional, irresponsible and dangerous.
They include a measure that would create a universal school voucher program, which has already passed the House. Another would allow districts to employ teachers, administrators and others without a board certification. Supporters of the measures say they will result in more parental control over education and help with a teaching staff shortage. But critics maintain the bills will erode Wyoming’s public school system.
Now, the House majority whip is facing pushback in his personal life as critics are calling for a boycott of his business, On the Hook, which visits multiple Wyoming cities.
The effort is circulating on Facebook, where Wyoming residents are urging others not to patronize Andrew’s food trucks due to his legislative actions.
“Please consider supporting him ONLY when he starts supporting Wyoming educators,” urges a post by Erin McColley Haynes, whose profile picture is an icon that says “I stand with Wyoming teachers.”
Being a target of public anger is the normal course of business for a legislator, Andrew told WyoFile on Monday. “However, it’s unfortunate that this particular instance has been derived from so much misinformation on both the function and intent of the bill.”
He was referring to the teacher certification bill, which has received strong pushback.
Andrew defended his education bills as reflecting the will of the people during a wide-ranging interview with Capitol reporters on Friday. He pointed to a survey in which nearly 60% of respondents said they felt Wyoming education was heading in the wrong direction.
“That’s significant,” Andrew said.
“This session, I’ve thrown out a lot of different ideas,” he continued. “I don’t claim that all of them were great ideas, but I think there were a lot of things that needed to be talked about in the space of public education, and a lot of that has to do with the bureaucracy and governance of how we run public education.”
The boycott is by no means the first time politics have influenced the way people spend their dollars. And while it’s unclear if or how much the effort will impact Andrew’s food truck revenue, it does show that his legislative efforts have struck a nerve.
School choice and teacher certification
Andrew is from Washington but has lived in Wyoming for more than a decade. He was first elected to represent House District District 46 in 2021. After four years, he was elevated to the role of House majority whip, and he also serves as chairman of the House Education Committee.
Andrew’s House Bill 199, “Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act,” would create a program to give Wyoming families up to $7,000 per student for non-public school K-12 costs. It would do so by expanding a new income-qualified education savings account program that passed in 2024. Andrew’s measure strips away income qualifications as well as the ability to use funds for pre-K costs. It also strips a requirement that participating students take statewide or similar national academic assessments.
Critics say HB 199 likely violates the Wyoming Constitution, which prohibits the state from giving money to individuals “except for the necessary support of the poor.” It also prohibits the use of public funds for private or parochial schools.
Vehement opposition from lawmakers as well as constituents has failed to slow the bill’s progress. It passed the House last week following three days of intense debate. The Freedom Caucus illustrated its voting power by defeating nearly all of the 18 attempts to amend the bill before passing it.
Andrew is trying to achieve a system of universal choice, he said, and his intent is not to take away from the public school system.
“I think what I would like to see is education where everybody has a choice of exactly what they want, and each of those choices are a good choice,” he said.
Change is never easy, he added, and that’s particularly true in education.
Another bill of Andrew’s that has caught flak, House Bill 100, “K-12 uncertified personnel,” would allow districts and charter school governing boards to employ teachers, administrators and others without a certification or permit issued by the Professional Teaching Standards Board. It would require employees without such certification to obtain a background check.
That bill hasn’t gotten as much traction; it was referred to the Education Committee on Jan. 24 and hasn’t seen action since. However, many in the education field have taken aim at the bill, saying it endangers education by relaxing rigors of those hired to teach.
“What is spreading around social media is that I ‘want anyone who is 18 and can pass a background check to be able to teach,’” Andrew told WyoFile on Monday. “This is extremely far from the truth. This bill would essentially allow school boards to take up the duty of certification on their own.”
If they choose to do so, he added, this could help districts struggling to fill education roles find “qualified individuals through alternative channels.”
Fish and chips
Andrew launched On the Hook in 2016 when he was still a University of Wyoming student with business partner Hunter Anderson. It began as a single food truck selling fish and chips made with line-caught wild cod (Andrew’s father captained a commercial fishing boat in Alaska) and has grown into a franchised company serving 20 states. The business has 558,000 Facebook followers.
In Wyoming, patrons can find it on a rotating schedule — from Rawlins to Casper, Jackson and beyond.
But some Wyoming customers are taking their money elsewhere — and encouraging others to as well. Casper resident Jane Ifland is one such person.
She called Andrew’s legislation “catastrophically damaging to the public schools system” and said the notion of relaxing teaching standards is insulting to those who have spent years training in pedagogy.
“Those are the moves of someone who does not understand what the purpose of public education is,” she told WyoFile.
— WyoFile reporter Andrew Graham contributed to this article.
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