• Legislature fails to override decision

By David Velazquez
Casper Star-Tribune
Via- Wyoming News Exchange
CASPER — An attempt to override Gov. Mark Gordon’s veto over a bill that allowed charter schools to receive and apply for federal and state grants failed in the House of Representatives after initially passing in the Senate. 

Senate File 61, sponsored by Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, would let school district approved charter schools to act as a local education agency and apply for and receive federal, state or program grants. 

The bill sailed through both chambers of the Legislature, but Gordon on Friday vetoed the bill. 

The Senate on Friday morning reached the two-thirds required vote to overturn Gordon’s decision with a 28-3 vote. The bill in the House of Representatives failed to reach the needed two-thirds threshold by one vote with a vote of 41-2-1. (Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, was excused from the vote.)

Charter schools, which receive government funding but operate independently of the local school district, have gained popularity in Wyoming and accessibility to the charter schools have also grown as the Legislature supports them. 

Gordon in his notice of veto to the Senate wrote that “without a thorough examination of the consequences and impacts on our state, students, parents and taxpayers, we may risk exacerbating existing impediments to charter growth and innovation while simultaneously raising the overall cost of education to unsustainable levels over the long term.” 

An eight-member Wyoming Charter School Authorizing Board was created during last year’s legislative session, and it shifted the power of authorizing charter schools from school districts to the state. 

The board took over the State Loan and Investment Board, which has the power to create and oversee charter schools in the state. 

Gordon noted that the authorizing board is still in its “infancy” and needs “sufficient time and resources to carry out the duties prescribed by the Legislature.” 

The board has authorized three charter schools to date: Wyoming Classical Academy in Mills and Prairie View Community School in Chugwater are open and running, and Cheyenne Classical Academy is set to open in the fall.