The Wyoming Senate has given final approval to a bill that allows the State Board of Education to consider the Next Generation Science Standards. But the Senate also added an amendment that has some concerned.
Senator Eli Bebout changed the bill to say that the state board may consider NGSS in addition to others in order to -- quote -- "develop quality science standards that are unique to Wyoming."
Bebout says his amendment requires nothing, but Senate President Phil Nicholas says it implies that the state board should come up with standards unique to Wyoming.
“If the proposition is that somehow Wyoming is unique and somehow science in Wyoming is unique, really I think that is an absurd position. There is nothing unique about the science that exists in Laramie or Cheyenne, that the minute you drive across the border the science changes.”
Senator Chris Rothfuss says the intent of the bill is to let the State Board of Education determine what science standards are appropriate for Wyoming and he fears the amendment undermines that.
