CHEYENNE — As constitutionality questions around school choice persist in Wyoming courts, the state’s Libertarian Party is publicly encouraging opponents to reconsider their stance on it, saying school choice doesn’t need to be “MAGA.”
Acting separately, the director of a Libertarian-leaning organization posted a pro-school-choice video to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
The state’s teacher advocacy group was not impressed.
The Wyoming Education Association this year challenged the constitutionality of a new school choice program offering state funds to families seeking alternate education.
The program is currently on hold, thanks to Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher, who said WEA’s constitutional objections toward it are likely to succeed on their merits. Those include the Wyoming Constitution’s ban on giving public money to education efforts not directly under state control.
The Wyoming Libertarian Party on Saturday authored a post asking anti-school-choice parents and teachers to reconsider their opposition to the voucher program, and “turn school choice against MAGA today!”
Tyler Lindholm, state director for Americans for Prosperity Wyoming, posted a video to X Tuesday, featuring a video of prominent current and former statehouse delegates saying that parents should have the option to send their kids to public, charter, or private schools, or choose homeschooling.
Wyoming Education Association President Kim Amen told Cowboy State Daily in a Wednesday statement that the current voucher system runs afoul of state law, no matter what any organization says.
“Public funds belong in public schools, it’s as simple as that,” she said. “The current ESA voucher is unconstitutional under the Wyoming State Constitution, something the lawmakers themselves admitted throughout their debate, and something that’s conveniently left out of the conversation.”
Marshall Burt, a former state representative who was a Libertarian while in office, wrote in an email to Cowboy State Daily that while the current program is not perfect, the recent social media posts and political activity show it should be an option for teachers and parents.
“In our state's recent past, we have watched various lawsuits playout, where parents have lost their voice with what and how their children are being taught,” Burt wrote.
The Not-MAGA Card
The Libertarian Party’s post says that school choice could be “a silver bullet” for problems facing education.
It also calls out the Republican Party for making school choice a partisan issue.
“Don’t let partisanship be the enemy of good ideas! Turn school choice against MAGA today!” the Facebook post states in part.
Burt said Wednesday that while there could be support for school choice in Wyoming, the law needs to be amended to prevent any funding to religious-based schools.
School choice has become a hot-button issue on which it is difficult to get reliable information, he wrote.
“Depending on which side if this spectrum you sit, parents hear freedom of choice, while teachers hear about how they'll lose their jobs or more funding from the unions and administration,” Burt wrote.
Setting The Table
Lindholm told Cowboy State Daily Wednesday he posted the video of various political officials supporting school choice “to set the table” and show that Wyomingites should have a say in where their kids go to school.
They did not coordinate with the Libertarian Party on their messaging, he said.
But given the timing of kids returning to school in recent weeks, his organization felt it was a good time to remind people about the subject.
The judge’s injunction, and the now-pending appeal of it that could last months, has left 4,000 families scrambling, he said.
“It was a big red light, and it left a lot of folks in a lurch,” Lindholm said. “Hat tip to the teachers’ union if they wanted to piss off a lot of Wyoming residents, they got it down pat.”
Polarizing Environment
Even as the school choice program is pending in the Wyoming Supreme Court, a difficult political landscape means it will be hard for the current model to have wide support, Burt wrote.
He wrote that the state’s Freedom Caucus has pushed its religious agenda through the bill.
Those aligned with the social-conservative group argued that all schools should be equally funded –- but tax dollars shouldn’t fund religious teaching, Burt wrote.
That would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits governments from creating or endorsing an official state church, he added.
Amen echoed those comments in her statement, saying parents already have a choice of schooling for their children.
“Private and home schools are family-funded choices, not taxpayer-funded ones. WEA will always fight for Wyoming’s public schools, students, education professionals, and communities,” Amen said.
Burt said the current political environment is divided, and that it is unlikely that school choice will have bipartisan support any time soon.
“Unfortunately, politics has become so polarizing that we can no longer have open and honest discussions with people, about what we disagree with anymore,” Burt wrote.
Steve Bohnel can be reached at steve@cowboystatedaily.com.
