Wyoming lawmakers will soon be asked to add a University of Wyoming non-voting ex-officio member to the State Board of Education. The legislature’s Joint Education Committee voted to sponsor a bill that would make that possible. Jim Rose currently sits on the board on behalf of the community colleges.
Board of Education Chair Pete Gosar said it only makes sense to have higher education members on the board.
"The 12th graders are going somewhere," said Gosar "They’re going to careers, they’re going to community colleges, they’re going to the university. And so the university and community colleges should have a place at the table."
Gosar said he’d eventually like to get a member on the board to also represent early childhood issues.
"If you’re going to have collective impact on such a big thing as education policy, it makes most sense to have everybody there and to get their perspective."
Gosar says the board also agreed to support the Indian Education For All bill that would create standards for teaching Wyoming’s Native American history and culture in classrooms statewide.
The two bills now goes to the legislature for consideration.