Republican Megan Degenfelder will be the next state superintendent of public instruction.

Megan Degenfelder ran on a platform of fighting back against anti-American policies and promoting parent involvement in decision making in the classroom.

Degenfelder defeats Democrat Sergio Maldanodo, a Northern Arapaho educator from the Wind River Reservation. She said though she has no classroom experience she wants to partner with more Wyoming industries to help the education system.

“I've lived all across the state and have the private sector and education experience so that I can really bridge the gap between all of these stakeholders,” she said.

She said she wants to work on a database that includes teacher's curriculum online for parents to review at home and said this will encourage parental involvement in the Wyoming education system, one of her many priorities.

“Those really centered around number one, empowering parents, ensuring that they have more decisions, more choices for their child's education, and more transparency,” she said.

Degenfelder was the Chief Policy Officer under former superintendent Jillian Balow.