Democrat Pete Gosar, who challenged Matt Mead in the Governor’s race last year, is the new chairman of the State Board of Education.
Gosar replaces outgoing chair Ron Micheli. Gosar says one the biggest tasks facing the board is putting new science standards in place. A bill that would allow the Board to consider the controversial Next Generation Science Standards is currently making its way through the legislature.
“For me, it comes down to, we want the best standards that we can possibly come up with for our kids,” says Gosar. “And we’ll find a way forward hopefully to get that out there and make the process opened up, I guess, to people who felt they weren’t included.”
The State Board has also decided to form a task force to determine a common vision for Wyoming’s public education system. That’s after a house bill that would have created such a group was voted down.