ROCK SPRINGS — The chairman of the Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees sought board consensus on a few education bills making their way through the Wyoming Legislature. 

Some education bills were killed Monday, including House Bill 100, which would have allowed district to hire uncertified teachers. House Bill 200, which would prohibit district employees and students from using a student’s preferred pronouns if it doesn’t align with their biological sex, allowed district employees to opt out of mandatory trainings, and requiring parental permission before lessons related to diversity, equity or inclusion, also died. 

Chairman Cole Wright asked the board if it would consider making board statements to forward to local legislators related to bills that would impact the district. Wright said he reached out to local legislators recently, saying Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, questioned Wright if the opinion he shared was his opinion of the board’s opinion.

“It was evident to me that the board’s opinion is important to him and that we have a consensus,” Wright said.

Wright said the bills he’s concerned about are House Bill 199, Senate File 162, and House Bill 172. He said House Bill 199 would divert $44.5 million in revenue each year from districts to a program offering vouchers to students not attending public school. He said the bill removes income guidelines, allowing any student to have access to the $7,000 and has minimal ability to prevent waste and fraud. 

“Just to be really clear, these vouchers would not go to students or parents,” Wright said. “They go to the education facility that’s providing the service.”

None of the board members responded when Wright asked if he could ask legislators to oppose the bill. 

However, the house bill has its fans as well. Laura McKee, a 2024 legislative candidate and frequent public commenter at school board meetings, said the bill is about offering freedom for parents who want to educate their children according to their religious beliefs, something she argues other states have allowed, but Wyoming does not. She said the payments would have to be made for qualifying expenses, saying parents wouldn’t simply get a check for $7,000.

“They get paid quarterly and if they do anything that’s wrong, they will get prosecuted,” she said.

She argued there are standards that students would be required to be taught to, while not forcing them to receive lessons that would go against the parents’ religious doctrine. 

Wright said Senate File 162 would limit how districts could pay for district staff through their block grants, saying it would be effective immediately and result in layoffs and changes to how staff receive wages through block grants. 

With House Bill 172, which repeals gun free zones, Wright said people he has discussed the bill with say there is likely nothing stopping the bill from making it to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk. 

“We can almost assume it’s going to be passed,” he said.

His concern lies with the bill not improving requirements to allow concealed carry on school campuses, allowing 18-year-old students to carry on campus if they completed the concealed carry requirements. He said the board could draft rules impacting employees and students, but not the general public.