Wyoming legislators have voted to introduce a series of education bills addressing everything from new ways to measure student progress to student privacy when it comes to email and social media. But the House voted down a measure intended to make schools safer.
For the second year in a row, lawmakers were asked to consider a measure that would have developed a statewide school safety plan, including a federally funded tip line. Pinedale Representative Albert Sommers says a similar program has worked well in Colorado
"Over the last three years your education committee has heard substantial testimony on the need for better school security and better suicide support for K-12 students. We've heard great presentations on the Safe to Tell program in Colorado which has resulted in interventions in potential suicides and bullying in Colorado schools. "
But Lyman Republican Allen Jaggi said the bill would create a new bureaucracy that the state can't afford. The bill failed by a wide margin.