Invest in, don't divest from, public education

When looking at the amount of education related bills in the 68th Wyoming Legislature, it’s hard not to believe that a number of our legislators aren’t invested in our public education system.

The amount of bills introduced this session—more than 700—is enough to make my head spin some days. Yet, what makes my head spin even more are the bills introduced which almost seem to try to undercut Wyoming’s public education system.

Take, for example, House Bill 100. On the surface this bill almost seems to try to alleviate the teaching shortage in the Cowboy State, allowing local school districts—and charter schools—to hire without having to be certified through the Wyoming Professional Standards Teaching Board. Instead, as long as they were able to pass a background check and were at least 18 years old, they could be hired as a teacher or administrator.

I have to agree with Darrin Jennings, superintendent for Carbon County School District No. 2, in that a bill like this is a slap in the face to not only the standards board but the educators who work to retain their certifications.

To be clear, I don’t want to discount some of the experience we have which could be used in schools. In a community like the Platte Valley, we have a wealth of experience in various industries. We have restaurant owners and chefs who could help teach ProStart, mechanics who could help teach automotive classes, or bank tellers and financial advisors who could help teach applied math.

Additionally, if there are people with education or experience who want to teach, the professional standards teaching board has an avenue for them to do just that. The Professional Industry Career permit requires applicants to have a high school diploma or GED, along with:

• Minimum two years of work experience for each field of occupational specialty for which the applicant is seeking a PIC. Work experience must exclude any educational training the applicant may have obtained in his/her field of occupational specialty.
• Verification of Employment Forms (found in the application) for each field of occupational specialty in which the applicant is seeking a PIC must be filled out completely and accurately and submitted as part of the complete application packet.
• Current and valid license (s) in each of the applicant’s occupational specialties when one is required by state or federal statutes.
• Plan for Continued Professional Advancement

Of course, House Bill 100 is just the beginning of the education bills in this legislature.

House Bill 46—the Homeschool Freedom Act—would remove the current requirement of homeschool families to submit their curriculum to their local district for approval. Combine that with House Bill 199—the Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act—and it seems we have an issue.

The Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act would, primarily, award $7,000 each year for each homeschool student.

Additionally, House Bill 199, “Requires that the ESA student receive instruction in, at minimum, reading, writing, mathematics, civics, including studies of the United States constitution and the constitution of the state of Wyoming, history, literature and science. No parent shall be required to include any instruction that conflicts with the parent's or the ESA student's religious doctrines.”

And where would this money come from?

House Bill 199 would cut public school funding—which is required by the Wyoming State Constitution—by almost half. While 52.8% of school funding would go to public schools, the remaining 47.2% would be diverted to the Wyoming Freedom Scholarship.

In short, the State of Wyoming would be paying parents to keep their kids at home.

Finally, there’s House Bill 200.

This bill, along with wading into the “culture wars” of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), would require teachers to post the entire year of curriculum on the school district’s website at the beginning of each school year. Carbon County School District No. 2 already does this, posting their curriculum maps, curriculum manual and proficiency scales—among other documents—on their website.

However, with House Bill 200, not only would it be required that the curriculum be posted at the beginning of the year but that any change in curriculum be immediately updated. Additionally, any parent who is upset by the curriculum—or as the bill puts it, “aggrieved by an alleged violation of this section”—can file a civil suit against the district and the teacher under this legislation.

As a parent myself, I am understanding of and sympathetic to parents’ rights. The question I often ask myself, however, is where do my rights as a parent begin and the rights of another person as a parent end? I believe that question is best answered by one of the Founding Fathers.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote “If the children are untaught, their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences than it would have done in their correction by a good education.”

Though I may have my own concerns and critiques of the public education system, I wholeheartedly believe it is in the best interest of our country and its democratic processes to ensure the upcoming generations are educated in a way that is good for the many and not the few.

The same goes for Wyoming.

As Matt Blunt, the former Republican governor of Missouri once said, “Public education is an investment in our future.”