Bill to Give More Local Control on Education Fails

Cheyenne, WY – The Wyoming Senate decided Friday to kill a bill that was intending to return local control of graduation standards to school districts. Senator Hank Coe said despite good intentions, the bill potentially would have caused more problems for the state with the courts, and he urged Senators to vote against the measure. It could have returned to school districts more control over graduation requirements and removed the three tier system that would have been applied to a student's transcript. State Superintendent Trent Blankenship said the sudden opposition to the bill was politics, but Senator Kathy Sessions of Cheyenne said it was more about doing what was right for students. The education committee will take another look at the issue this summer.