Lawmakers, educators disagree about whether school boards should be partisan.

JACKSON - Should partisan politics trickle all the way down to the local level, potentially impacting decisions about how to educate children as young as 5?

That's a question on the minds of lawmakers from the opening day of the Wyoming Legislature on Tuesday, when Senate File 98 was already on the drawing board.

The bill would require school trustee candidates to declare a party affiliation when running for a seat. It is sponsored by Sen. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, who is vice chair of the board of directors for the Cheyenne Classical Academy and an advocate for school choice, a model that allows tax dollars to go to private or charter schools.

He didn't respond to a request for comment before press time.

"That's going exactly in the wrong direction," Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, said at a press conference Tuesday. "I think we need less partisanship in this state. We need to work together more, and the more we try to divide ourselves into tribes, the worse off we're all going to be."

He said if there is anything in the state that ought to be nonpartisan, free and open to everyone, it's education. He's even seeking to bring a bill that would make all county elected positions, except commissioners, nonpartisan, from the sheriff to the county clerk.

Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, was just as frustrated at the idea.

"Our schools are the center of our communities, and local communities have different issues and different priorities, which is why school boards are so important, because they do the work that the community asks them to do ... It shouldn't be about whether you're Republican or Democrat or Libertarian." ~ Kim Eman, Wyoming Education Association president

He said there is a recurring theme in many of the education bills sponsored by Wyoming Freedom Caucus members in the House and by other Republicans across both chambers, and it's bringing political fodder into school board meetings and classrooms. He said lawmakers should be asking themselves if that makes education better.

"How do we make it better?" he said. "We've got ideas to make it better. It's called an ECA (external cost adjustment). We've got ways to make it better. It's called just general funding of education to provide that product."

An external cost adjustment addresses inflation and sends more money toward teachers, employees, supplies and energy. But it isn't considered an increase in funding, just keeping funding stable.

Wyoming Education Association President Kim Eman said students deserve better than partisan politics.

"Our schools are the center of our communities, and local communities have different issues and different priorities, which is why school boards are so important, because they do the work that the community asks them to do," she told the Jackson Hole News&Guide. "They vote people in office based on their values and how they see education and what's best for kids in their community. And by making it partisan, it brings, unfortunately, national political issues into the local, and that's not good for kids.

"It shouldn't be about whether you're Republican or Democrat or Libertarian," she said.

Teton County School District Chair Betsy Carlin said she couldn't respond in depth because she has not read the proposed law, but she said, "I can say I do believe strongly children's education should be a bipartisan issue."

The superintendent, Gillian Chapman, also didn't comment, "as I am not aware of the benefits or drawbacks for public school students."

School trustees in Jackson are more focused on advocating for adequate and suitable facilities, stable and reliable funding, and resources to respond to the unique and urgent needs of students learning English, according to the district's 2024-25 priorities approved by TCSD No. 1's board in November.

However, the state superintendent of public instruction, Megan Degenfelder, has her own agenda that aligns more closely with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the Wyoming GOP, as she made clear Sunday.

"Our future is under attack by extreme ideologies and federal overreach that have no place in Wyoming," she said in a press release. "This legislative agenda is about standing firm against this assault, protecting our families and resources, empowering parents, and ensuring every student is equipped to succeed with the values that make Wyoming strong."

She supports the party affiliation bill and dubbed it "school board accountability."

Her long list of priorities includes banning transgender women in sports and limiting school bathroom access to biological sex; requiring parental consent for school staff to address children by a name or gender different from one assigned at birth; expanding concealed carry in schools; strengthening penalties for fentanyl distribution to minors and possession of narcotics on school grounds; and banning access to online pornography for minors. Bills have been filed that seek to do all that and more.

Across the state, there were calls from constituents in 2024 wanting to know where their school trustee candidates fell on the political spectrum. Some were frustrated they weren't getting the trustee they were promised, especially as it came to LGBTQ+ and social issues. This was the case in other states considering partisan school board races, as reported by Education Week in 2023.

"You'll have counties in southwest Florida that voted for me by like 40 points, and yet they're electing people to the school board who are totally the opposite philosophy," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said in January 2023 as he announced his education priorities. "We want transparency. We want people to do what they think is best in educating voters to the maximum degree."

Forty-one states require nonpartisan local school board races, but Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and West Virginia have been debating changes.

Alabama, Connecticut, Louisiana and Pennsylvania currently require party labels, according to Ballotpedia. If the law were to pass in the next two months, Wyoming would become the fifth. Five other states allow both options, depending on the district.