Bill
# HB199
Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act
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Current Progress
Governor's Desk
The Governor signed the bill into law.
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Summary
Bill Description
AN ACT relating to education; modifying the education savings accounts program; changing the name of the program to the Wyoming freedom scholarship act; creating the Wyoming freedom scholarship program account; modifying distribution of state funds; modifying definitions; increasing the maximum scholarship award; modifying eligibility requirements; eliminating certification of education service providers; creating a voluntary registration for education service providers; repealing provisions; providing appropriations; making conforming amendments; and providing for an effective date.
Notes
Last year, Governor Gordon, backed by the Wyoming Education
Association (WEA), restricted tens of thousands of families from
accessing Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). HB199 was written to make sure all Wyoming parents have the ability to choose the best education for their children.
While HB199 was a great victory in creating universal school choice for all Wyoming kids, some bad amendments were added that create some unfortunate obstacles for the program:
- Increased regulatory authority by the Department of Education
- Purposely vague assessment requirements
- Expanded the Pre-K program and added provisions that are vague and problematic
- Certification hurdles that could be overly burdensome and prohibitive
Here’s what a good ESA program can do for Wyoming families:
✔️ Prioritize kids over bureaucracy
✔️ Improve test scores & educational performance
✔️ Increase efficiency in education spending
✔️ Let funding follow the child
✔️ Schools keep per-student funding
✔️ Parents gain more choice
✔️ Keep Wyoming a top-funded education system
✔️ Strengthen public schools while expanding choices
✔️ Create real school choice for families
✔️ Help rural families access remote learning
View on Wyoming LSO
✔️ Prioritize kids over bureaucracy
✔️ Improve test scores & educational performance
✔️ Increase efficiency in education spending
✔️ Let funding follow the child
✔️ Schools keep per-student funding
✔️ Parents gain more choice
✔️ Keep Wyoming a top-funded education system
✔️ Strengthen public schools while expanding choices
✔️ Create real school choice for families
✔️ Help rural families access remote learning
Understanding the chart below
Each phase is highlighted with a colored/uncolored bar to show the latest activity.
Waiting for Committee Assignment
In Commitee
In Chamber
Governor's Desk
House
Senate
Waiting for Committee Assignment
Waiting for Committee Assignment
In Commitee
In Commitee
In Chamber
In Chamber
To next chamber
Governor's Desk
The Governor signed the bill into law.
Votes
House
HB0199JC001 Adopted HB0199JC001: 42-19-1-0-0Yea: Allemand; Andrew; Angelos; Banks; Bear; Bratten; Brown, G.; Byron; Campbell, K.; Clouston; Connolly; Filer; Geringer; Guggenmos; Haroldson; Hoeft; Jarvis; Johnson; Kelly; Knapp; Larson; Lawley; Lien; Locke; Lucas; McCann; Neiman; Ottman; Riggins; Rodriguez-Williams; Singh; Smith; Strock; Styvar; Tarver; Washut; Wasserburger; Webb; Webber; Wharff; Williams; Wylie
Nay: Brady; Brown; Campbell, E.; Chestek; Davis; Eklund; Erickson; Harshman; Heiner; Larsen; Nicholas; Pendergraft; Posey; Provenza; Schmid; Sherwood; Storer; Thayer; Yin
Absent: Winter
Senate
HB0199JC001 Adopted HB0199JC001: 21-8-2-0-0Nay: Anderson; Case; Cooper; Crago; Schuler; Landen; Pappas; Rothfuss
Absent: Barlow; Dockstader
Yea: Biteman; Boner; Brennan; Crum; Driskill; French; Gierau; Hicks; Hutchings; Ide; Jones; Kolb; Laursen; McKeown; Nethercott; Olsen; Salazar; Scott; Smith; Steinmetz; Taliaferro Pearson