­Bills would harm education in Wyoming

It’s nervous time for Wyoming educators, and rightfully so, as the Wyoming Legislature pushes through some bills that, if enacted, will massively change the landscape of education in the Cowboy State.

Of primary concern is House Bill 199, the Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act, which would allow public funds to be used for private school tuition and/or homeschooling costs and expand the current school voucher program to provide $7,000 per child for such costs.

Not only would the bill divert $200 million from Federal Mineral Royalties from public schools, it would further harm public schools by tempting families with the money if they drop their children out of public schools and enroll them in an alternate form of education.

Not only that, but the bill removes the requirement that people or programs who receive the funds be certified by the state and engage in standardized testing.

We have no problem with supporting homeschooling, but why rob Peter to pay Paul? Why enact this support program by harming public schools, which are the foundation of education in our state and beyond.

We believe the bill is unconstitutional under the Wyoming Constitution, which states in Article 7, Section 8: Distribution of school funds. Provision shall be made by general law for the equitable allocation of such income among all school districts in the state. But no appropriation shall be made from said fund to any district for the year in which a school has not been maintained for at least three (3) months; nor shall any portion of any public school fund ever be used to support or assist any private school, or any school, academy, seminary, college or other institution of learning controlled by any church or sectarian organization or religious denomination whatsoever.”

We wonder: Public schools that receive public funding are highly regulated and rigorously scrutinized. If they are to receive public money, would homeschools and private or church-based schools be willing to submit to the same regulations and standards?

The bill passed the House last week overwhelmingly and was introduced in the Senate. We’ll see how it fares in that body.

There is also major concern over House Bill 100, K-12 Uncertified Personnel, which would trash certification requirements for Wyoming teachers. The only requirements for a teacher would be for a person to be 18 years old and pass a criminal background check.

Why would we want to do that?

We understand the rationale for the bill. In times when it’s difficult to hire teachers, the bill expands the pool of possible applicants. But that’s no reason to totally dismantle certification requirements.

First of all, it’s a slap at the professional educators who take years of training, cerfification and education to become teachers or administrators, but more than that, the bill, if passed, would greatly water down the educational teaching standards, and our children would be the poorer for it.

It might make some sense to build in some more flexibility so that, say, an engineer who is highly certified in the field could teach some specialized courses. But a blanket change where “anybody can do it” sounds like a really bad idea. Not just anyone can teach a third grader to read well.

An 18-year-old could graduate in the spring and be teaching his friends in the fall. Of course the bill wouldn’t require a district to hire an uncertified person, it just opens the door. But why do it in the first place? Why weaken our system? Americans have a tough time as it is competing on the world stage.

House Bill 100 was introduced and referred to the Education Committee on January 24. It has not been worked since then, so that one might not see the light of day.

Wyoming schools are among the best in the nation. Why make a concerted effort to damage our education system? That may not be the intent, but it sure would be the result.

We urge our legislators to be very careful how they go about reforming education. It would be far better to work with a scalpel rather than a sledge hammer.