On Friday, a district court judge temporarily paused a major expansion to the state’s school voucher program that lawmakers passed this year. The lawsuit comes from Wyoming Education Association (WEA) and argues the money allocated for the vouchers could be better spent funding the state’s public school system, among other reasons. This comes on the heels of the WEA winning a different lawsuit, which found the public school system is underfunded. On top of all of this, state lawmakers are currently recalibrating the funding model for schools. That’s a lot going on.

So Wyoming Public Radio’s news director Kamila Kudelska was joined by Wyoming Public Media’s part-time reporter Jeff Victor to make sense of all things public education.

Editor's Note: This story has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Kamila Kudelska: So this is all happening as state lawmakers are looking at the funding model or what is also known as recalibration, is that right?

Jeff Victor: Yes, so recalibration, let’s start there. This is the process of reexamining or reworking how the state government pays for public schools across Wyoming. This is mandated by law every five years.

The education association, which represents teachers, won an earlier lawsuit that found the state of Wyoming is violating the state’s constitution. That’s because the constitution requires the state to provide a “complete and uniform” system of public education that’s free for everyone and is the highest quality it can be.

In the lawsuit, the court ruled that Wyoming had been failing to do this, because schools couldn’t pay their teachers reasonable wages, provide nutritious meals or put much money into mental health resources. The judge ordered the state to invest more heavily in public education.

KK: So, if I’m understanding correctly, lawmakers are required by law to fund public education better?

JV: That’s right, and lawmakers have already started the recalibration process. To be clear, they had to do that already. The court ruling just gives them some direction about how to do it. This process, recalibration, includes getting feedback from stakeholders and crafting a plan that follows the constitution and other state laws. I listened in on a recent meeting of the Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration and I caught several hours of public testimony. Lots of people had lots of ideas about how Wyoming should fund schools. One person, Mary Schmidt, proposed eliminating school libraries:

Mary Schmidt: A teacher does not send students at high school to go to the library and research the Cold War. Where do they send them? To their computers. So are we spending money on libraries? For what?

JV: Others wanted to see more career and technical training. Rob Hill told lawmakers those programs usually have more demand than capacity.

Rob Hill: We've got a lot of kids that want in these classes. These are our workforce and we can't get them through those bottlenecks at level one.

JV: Several people showed up to the meeting wearing shirts that read, "Save Wyoming's Public Schools." The majority of public comment agreed schools are underfunded like Robin Edwards. She was a teacher in Johnson County for more than two decades.

Robin Edwards: When schools are underfunded, we are not just trimming budgets. We are trimming children's futures.

JV: She asked lawmakers not to cut mental health supports or librarians or hot meals.

Robin Edwards: A hungry, anxious, unsupported child cannot learn, and a child who cannot learn cannot grow into the kind of citizen this state and our country desperately needs.

KK: People are worried about the funding of public schools in the state. This ties in with the new WEA lawsuit that was filed earlier this month, right?

JV: So the new lawsuit specifically targets school vouchers. For context, these vouchers are public money, but they can be used for private or home schooling. The way it works is that families apply to the state department of education for a voucher, and then the state gives them money to reimburse, for example, private school tuition or homeschooling textbooks.

KK: How much are we talking? And what families are eligible?

JV: The dollar amount and the eligibility requirements have actually both been changed recently. In 2024, state lawmakers approved the first version of this program. It gave $6,000 a year per student, but it could only go to low-income families. In 2025, lawmakers expanded the program, boosting the payment to $7,000 and removing the income cap altogether. So now any family, regardless of income, can access these vouchers.

KK: Do we know how many families are taking advantage of this?

JV: Technically, so far, no one has received this money. The program is scheduled to start for the fall 2025 semester, so this coming school year. But we do know, from the Department of Education, that nearly 4,000 families have applied.

KK: Wow. How much money has Wyoming put toward this program?

JV: A total of about $50 million, the bulk of which was added this past session. It’s coming from the state’s general fund. Supporters of the voucher program are adamant that it will not take money away from public schools. Gov. Mark Gordon said as much during the bill’s public signing.

Mark Gordon: Public schools are going to still have the funding that they need. And this is a commitment by the state of Wyoming on this, in expanding this.

JV: But opponents warn the voucher program could indeed divert money away from public education.

KK: How so?

JV: They argue that $50 million set aside for private school vouchers could have been reallocated to public education instead. So, that brings us to the education association launching this other, newer lawsuit against the state to stop those voucher payments from going out. Here’s Kim Amen, president of the association:

Kim Amen: We believe that public schools are the center of our communities and the heart of Wyoming, and that we should be investing in them and not diverting money away from them.

JV: From Amen’s perspective, the real issue is that private schools are not like public schools. Part of the reason parents choose private schools is that those schools are not uniform. For example, they might teach something different. As one example, the lawsuit mentions teaching creationism instead of evolution. So they don’t have to follow the same standards and they don’t have the same oversight public schools do.

They’re also not always held to the same standards when it comes to discrimination. Here’s Amen again:

KA: Our public schools take every student. They're for every student in Wyoming, regardless of where they live, regardless of their special needs, regardless of their gender identity. What private schools don't have to do is take every single student.

JV: That’s why other plaintiffs have joined this lawsuit.

KK: There’s other plaintiffs?

JV: Yeah, nine public school parents across the state are also attached to the lawsuit. Most of them have children with disabilities or children who are trans or nonbinary. Brandon Vickers, a father from Worland, has both. His children are on individualized education programs and one is transgender. He told me he doesn’t think public education funding should go to schools that can discriminate against his children or any other children.

Brandon Vickers: It takes resources away from public schools, which are already struggling in almost every way. How are you going to fund both a well functioning, high functioning public school system and then also maintain this voucher system?

JV: Vickers and his wife are also both high school teachers and come from a family of teachers, so public education is near and dear to their hearts.

KK: How’s the Wyoming Department of Education reacting to this?

JV: Superintendent Megan Degenfelder said she will fight for the voucher program in court. In a press release, she said she fully intends to give those vouchers out come fall.

KK: And as we mentioned at the top, a Laramie County court temporarily blocked the voucher program on Friday. Meanwhile, recalibration just continues?

JV: Yeah. A lot of the meat and potatoes of actually putting together a funding model will be done by a private consulting firm, which is going to produce a draft report by October. However, ultimately, it’s important to note: decisions about how to fund schools will be made by elected officials.

KK: Ok, so I guess we're at a wait and see moment.

JV: That’s right. I’ll be keeping an eye on all of these developments and reporting back about what they mean for the future of public ed in Wyoming.