The Wyoming Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the request of the state’s attorney general to pause some education mandates.
State lawmakers don’t have to follow the mandate of a Cheyenne-based judge who ordered better teacher pay, a reevaluation of what education costs, a computer for every student, mental health counselors in elementary schools, more public lunch money and other goods.
At least not while an appeal of that order is ongoing in the Wyoming Supreme Court.
The order, signed by Chief Justice Lynne Boomgaarden and filed Wednesday, says the new Justice Bridget Hill (who was Wyoming Attorney General when appointed to the bench) is recused from the order.
And Justices John Fenn and Robert Jarosh “would have denied the motion” for a stay, the order says.
Some legislators who serve on the Select School Finance Recalibration Committee responded to the news Thursday with relief, and some with dismay.
But most voiced indifference, saying they were revamping the state’s education plan either way.
The Plan
Committee Co-Chair Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, was among the indifferent.
The committee is already on track to boost teacher pay and provide other improvements, he said.
But, added Heiner, the committee always sought to do what Heiner cast as its constitutional role, and what is best for the children of Wyoming.
That means investigating the fair cost of education in today’s economy.
But it also means delaying for at least a year the fulfillment of some of Laramie County District Court Judge Froelicher’s other mandates from his Feb. 26 order, Heiner said.
Froelicher specifically ordered the legislature to provide a technological device for each student, fill gaps in the school meals programs, supply mental health counselors to elementary schools and school resource officers across the districts.
Those mandates deserve consideration, but they weren’t on track to be fulfilled in the 2026 lawmaking session, court order or not, said Heiner.
“As we went through (the cost assessments) as a committee, we had on the periphery the judge’s order,” said Heiner. “But the legislature, we’re trying to do what’s best for the children.”
The committee still intends to recalibrate the cost of public education and run a recalibration bill during the lawmaking session that opens Feb. 9, Heiner added. He said the committee is on track to do that and is drafting the recalibration bill now.
Its next meeting is set for Jan. 22.
Heiner said the committee is reserving funds to continue meeting into the summer of 2026, to study the other goods Froelicher ordered such as mental health counselors, school resource officers, the proliferation of computers and gaps in the school lunch programs.
Public Education Is A Right In Wyoming
Froelicher’s order, now paused, didn’t give the legislature a specific deadline for honoring his mandates, though it called the 2025 interim session “an excellent window of opportunity to address these issues.”
The order also had kept the issue under the judge’s control.
“This Court shall maintain jurisdiction over this case until such time as the constitutional violations have been fully remedied,” says the order.
The Wyoming Constitution calls public education a right. It requires a “complete and uniform” public education system. This has sparked numerous school finance cases against the state.
The Wyoming legislature is required to assess fully the cost of education every five years.
It hasn’t completed that process in at least 15 years, House Appropriations Chair John Bear, R-Gillette, told Cowboy State Daily.
He said the court’s grocery list is a reflex of the legislature “fail(ing) to do its job” over the years, “and now that conservatives have the majority” it’s time for the legislature to complete its own recalibration.
For Bear’s part on the recalibration committee, he didn’t intend to fill some of Froelicher’s more specific mandates this year either. He was the lawmaker who proposed at an Oct. 29 meeting, delaying the order requiring one technological device per child until the summer of 2026.
In third grade and lower, said Bear, lawmakers should investigate the effects of screen time before doling out more devices.
If that stance conflicts with the judge’s order, Bear asserted, then it’s a war of different constitutional issues, not defiance of a court order.
“His decisions (are) outside the purview of the judiciary,” Bear said, referencing the Wyoming Constitution’s mandate of separation of powers.
Shaky Ground Here
Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, didn’t share that view.
His fear is that the legislative majority, temporarily free of Froelicher’s order, may shirk good-faith efforts to recalibrate education and fund it sufficiently.
The Wyoming Supreme Court justices will be watching the legislature’s behavior and learning how lawmakers perform when left to their own will, said Rothfuss.
He is concerned that underperformance by the legislature could tinge the appeal deliberations, he added.
“Hopefully we’ll kind of rise above that to begin with,” Rothfuss said, “and the recalibration committee will do its best work regardless and put forward legislation that’s in the best interests of students.”
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, said the stay doesn’t change his approach to recalibration.
“The question for us is how do we make sure every kid in Wyoming can get a good education,” Yin wrote in a Thursday text message. “I hope that is the goal of every legislator.”
Plain And Simple
Wyoming Attorney General Deputy Mark Klaassen argued to the high court last month that it should pause Froelicher’s order to give lawmakers breathing room during the appeal.
Klaassen asserted that the state is likely to win this appeal, and that could put it in the awkward position of having to claw back goods that may not be considered constitutional necessities in the end.
He called it funding “whiplash.”
House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, who sits on the recalibration committee, agrees with the stay because it avoids that whiplash, he told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
“To me the stay makes sense,” he said. “It’s just commonsense that (lawmakers) would want to wait and see where things shake out.”
Still, he said, gaps in school lunch programs, school resource officers and some of the other mandates are “big issues” – but of the kind that require longer deliberation.
Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne, shared this thought, and said the recalibration committee has been working hard to recalibrate school finances.
Though not privy to the contents of Rothfuss’ interview at the time, Brennan, in a Thursday text message, unwittingly pushed back on his fears.
“I am appreciative that we can continue in good faith to do our job as the legislature to ensure that we do the best for our students, teachers and the State of Wyoming,” she wrote.
Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, also said he wants to work in good faith going forward, “taking the data seriously, listening to stakeholders, and focusing on what best serves Wyoming students.”
The pause of Froelicher’s order “simply means we can continue that process without additional uncertainty while the appeal moves forward,” Andrew added.
‘I’ve Objected’
Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, said in a Thursday text message that he agrees with extending the issues of nutrition, school security, technology and mental health into the 2026 interim, since they’re “large issues that we have to get right.”
Speaking as one member of the recalibration committee, “I’ve objected to the judicial branch’s attempt to expand the definition of education” to include those goods.
Committee Co-Chair Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, did not respond to a text message request for comment.
Also Wednesday
The stay was filed the same day the Wyoming Education Association, eight school districts, and the state’s executive branch clashed in a one-hour-long oral argument before the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Overwhelmingly, the argument revolved around whether Froelicher had applied the right standard of review to the legislature’s funding model.
WEA attorney Pat Hacker argued that strict scrutiny, a rigorous court standard for reviewing legislative actions that implicate fundamental rights, should apply to the legislature’s actions in this area.
Klaassen argued back that the court should show the legislature more deference as long as it acts in good faith.
The appeal is ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
