The Wyoming Education Association — or let’s call it what it really is, the Wyoming teachers union — recently won an injunction against school choice efforts in our state.
Their message is loud and clear: they trust the system, but not the parents.
The irony? If the public education system were doing as “bang-up” a job as the union claims, parents wouldn’t be leaving it in droves.
Yet across Wyoming — and the nation — more and more families are turning to homeschooling, private schools, co-ops, and online programs.
These aren't fringe movements anymore; they’re acts of desperation from parents who feel their children are being failed by a bloated, bureaucratic system that resists reform at every turn.
Let’s look at the facts.
The U.S. spends more per child on education than any other developed country, yet by nearly every international academic standard, we rank somewhere around 20th — or worse.
We’ve thrown billions at the problem, and still can’t crack the top ten. The answer isn’t more money — it’s more accountability and more choice.
That’s what school choice is about: giving parents the ability to direct a portion of their own tax dollars toward the education that best fits their child.
Whether that’s a traditional public school, a charter school, a private Christian academy, or a homeschool curriculum — that should be the parent’s decision, not the state’s.
And make no mistake: those are our tax dollars. If a parent isn’t using the public school system, then why shouldn’t they be allowed to recoup some of what they’ve paid in to fund their child’s actual education?
The teachers union’s lawsuit isn’t about protecting students. It’s about protecting their monopoly. They fear competition, because competition reveals inefficiency.
And the moment families have real alternatives, the system has to do better — or risk losing both students and funding.
School choice isn’t about attacking teachers. It’s about empowering families.
If the WEA believes so strongly in public education, they should welcome the opportunity to prove their model is still the best.
But instead, they use legal roadblocks and union muscle to deny families the very freedom they themselves enjoy: the freedom to choose.
Wyoming families deserve better. Wyoming children deserve better.
And Wyoming taxpayers deserve the right to invest in education that works — not just education that’s dictated.
Darin McCann represents House District 48 in Rock Springs
