Wyoming will wait a year to request a waiver from federal education requirements.
The reason is that lawmakers are moving forward with education reform efforts that will satisfy a waiver from federal requirements, but the state needs more time to finish the job. David Holbrook of the Wyoming Department of Education says it’s better to wait.
“If we try to meet the federal timelines the way they are stated we could potentially compromise the quality of the accountability system and we are unwilling to do that.”
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools are required to meet rising benchmarks toward all students testing proficient in math and language by 2014.
Schools that fail to reach the benchmarks face consequences set by the federal government. Holbrook says Wyoming will still seek a waiver for the 2014-15 school year.
