The Wyoming Department of Education wants federal officials to allow schools labeled as "needing improvement" to provide tutoring and remedial help to students.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools that need improvement—based on state assessments—are not allowed to provide tutoring, forcing students to turn to outside providers.
Brent Young is Assistant Director of Instruction at Laramie County School District 1. He says allowing struggling schools to provide these services is positive.
"A pro would be is you’ve got students working with their own community members, people they can access right away," said Young. "One of the challenges with supplemental service providers that do get approved is they could be working out of states all over our country."
If the waiver is approved, the schools can compete against outside providers to become state-approved supplemental education services providers.
The Wyoming Department of Education announced Wednesday they're asking for public comment on the issue until June 10.