Latest news with #SF126
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House votes not to keep University of Wyoming Lab School open
CHEYENNE — Wyoming's House of Representatives has opted against passing legislation to keep the University of Wyoming Lab School open, killing a bill that has sparked hours of debate in the Capitol. With 41 pieces of legislation scheduled for debate before a Friday night deadline, acting chairman Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, noted that representatives spent an hour and 18 minutes debating Senate File 126, 'Establishment of a K-8 public lab school.' Ultimately, the measure failed in a 32-24 vote. Some lawmakers gave impassioned pleas to keep the school, which has been a part of Wyoming's history for more than 125 years, open. Others argued that passing SF 126 would be overstepping the bounds of state government, wading into a local issue that Albany County School District 1 Board of Trustees and University of Wyoming Board of Trustees have already decided. Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan (2025) Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan 'When this came into the (House Education) Committee, I was somebody who was on the fence about it,' Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, said. 'When I voted yes on it, it was because this is exactly the type of discussion this issue deserved.' Kelly ended up casting another vote in favor of SF 126 Friday, but it was not enough. 'We are having trouble categorizing this, because the school is unique,' Kelly said. 'But we are seeking to restore that historical and cultural gem to Wyoming. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely.' The Legislature was the last stop in a long effort to reestablish the UW Lab School as it once was, after an announcement last year from both managing educational institutions that this academic year would be the last for the lab school. For over 130 years, the lab school operated as a K-8 public school, many of those offering practicum and observational experiences for pre-service teachers and other UW students on campus. For around a decade, the school has been guided by a memorandum of understanding between the ACSD1 and the university, but the two educational bodies could not agree on a process to move forward while also meeting objectives both said they had for the school. Argument in favor: 'Decision makers have failed' House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, said the bill was not about saving a school, but promoting a Wyoming legacy. Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie (2025) Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie 'In recent years, decision makers have failed the very people they were entrusted to serve. Many feel the decision to unilaterally close the Lab School was made behind closed doors, without transparency and without input from parents, students and the Wyoming public,' Andrew said. Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas, urged her fellow lawmakers not to look at the decision as if it were about a 'normal school in a school district,' because, in fact, the issue is one of school choice. Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas (2025) Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas 'I want to remind everyone that this is not the same kind of setup … as in the school district,' Strock said. 'Please quit looking at it as the same as all the other school districts, and as if we are taking over some local control.' Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie, said he believes there were 'no bad actors' that led the Lab School to where it is today. However, the issue has been 'divisive, and it has been tearing apart the community,' Chestek said. He respects both the ACSD1 and UW trustees, but said he had to support keeping the school open. Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie (2025) Rep. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie 'It breaks my heart to see these two entities, good institutions, at loggerheads, not agreeing on something that I think the community loves,' Chestek said. 'This is tearing us up.' Argument against: 'Not the role of the state Legislature' Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, said she could not support the Lab School bill, although she empathized with parents, teachers and students who desperately wanted to save the school. 'It is simply not the role of the state Legislature to come into a situation like this and make themselves, sort of, a court of last resort,' Lawley said. 'A place for people to come when they are unhappy or dissatisfied with what has happened at the local level, and want us to enter into a space that includes a school district, our university and somehow be the arbiter of that.' Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland (2025) Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland Rep. Art Washut, R-Casper, said he felt the bill was asking lawmakers to 'micromanage a local school,' and that he could not support SF 126. Rep. McKay Erickson, R-Afton, said he had not found a person at the university or on the school board who wanted to continue the Lab School. 'It is, folks, tough to close schools for any district,' Erickson said. 'But this would be getting into the weeds big time, if we go above their decision to close the school. … That seems to just be clouded, extremely.'
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
University of Wyoming Lab School bill approved in House committee, headed for floor
CHEYENNE — In another narrow vote, a bill to keep the University of Wyoming Lab School open passed through the House Education Committee. Co-sponsored by Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, Senate File 126, 'Establishment of a K-8 public lab school,' passed through committee in a 5-4 vote Wednesday. SF 126 comes after a set of 'unfortunate circumstances' between UW and Albany County School District 1, wherein the two educational entities could not agree on a memorandum of understanding governing school operations, according to Rothfuss. That disagreement led to a 'unilateral decision' by the UW trustees, and a subsequent later announcement by the ACSD1 school board, to close the UW Lab School at the end of this academic year, Rothfuss explained to his fellow lawmakers this session. He also acknowledged before the House committee Wednesday that neither the university nor ACSD1 is in support of SF 126. Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie (2025) Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie 'The university wants to close the lab school, and they have made that clear,' he said. 'The district doesn't want to continue to work with the lab school. … They see it as a funding threat.' But teachers, students and staff at the lab school feel very differently — and feel unheard, after the UW trustees first made the decision to close it at a meeting in Sheridan, not Laramie, Rothfuss said. Representatives from both UW and ACSD1 testified against SF 126 Wednesday. Mike Smith, UW vice president for governmental affairs and community engagement, said that the decision to close the lab school was 'the epitome of a local control issue,' and that the lab school was 'a great school but serves no educational purpose' that the UW College of Education cannot fulfill without it. ACSD1 Superintendent Dr. John Goldhardt said that keeping the lab school open represents a financial threat to the district, continuing that the effort behind SF 126 was 'nontransparent' as ACSD1 trustees were not informed or involved. In comments limited due to time constraints while committees work to push legislation through in the final weeks of the session, former students at the lab school, parents and teachers pleaded with the committee Wednesday to pass SF 126. Julia Crossland, who identified herself as a young Wyoming teacher, said her life was deeply impacted by the UW Lab School. She graduated in 2023 with a degree in secondary social studies education, after student teaching in Platte County. 'I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a specially designed practicum experience (including time at the lab school),' Crossland said. 'Lab has allowed us to work hands-on with students, and try out different teaching methods.' UW Lab School art 1 Tori Brantner and Emily Mai work on their 4x4 projects in art class on Dec. 6, 2023, at the University of Wyoming Lab School. Bradley Rettler, who said his own two children attend the lab school, said it is an important tool for keeping students training to teach in Wyoming. Rettler, who is an associate professor of philosophy at UW, said when he asks freshmen majoring in education why they chose Laramie, one of their top reasons is the lab school. 'We want our teachers to have grown up in the state, to have gone to college in the state, and to stay in the state,' Rettler said. 'The lab school is one of the things that keeps them in the state.' Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas, said that supporting the UW Lab School is much like supporting rural schools in Wyoming, where parents express a deep need for a facility of choice. Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas (2025) Rep. Tomi Strock, R-Douglas 'We fight for (rural schools). School districts usually want to close them, and parents get out there and fight,' Strock said. 'This is no different.' Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan, said that he was 'on the fence' about SF 126, but that the groundswell of support pushed him toward forwarding the bill out of committee. Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan (2025) Rep. Tom Kelly, R-Sheridan 'This is too large of an issue, with too much public input, and too many people paying attention, for this committee to shut it down at this moment,' Kelly said. 'This deserves its time in the House.' However, Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland; Rep. McKay Erickson, R-Afton; and Rep. Laurie Bratten, R-Sheridan, all said they could not support the bill. Erickson said he worried a state decision would impinge on local control, and Bratten said she had concerns over how the bill structured administration at the lab school. 'There is a lot of verbiage here that is pretty gray,' Bratten said. 'Fundamentally, I would like to see this as a charter. … It is such a strange hybrid.' Lawley pointed out that the lab school has not been performing for the last several years, and said that SF 126 would force UW and ACSD1 to operate a facility they no longer see as effective. 'Part of my concerns, it begins with the idea that the school hasn't been functioning for five years, basically, and so it is not like we are going to (pass SF 126) and all that is going to come back together,' Lawley said. Rothfuss responded that the school may have struggled for the last few years, but it has a 138-year history. 'Do we get involved? In my view, that is a legislative decision. We are electeds, and this is a decision that should be made by electeds,' Rothfuss said. 'Believe me, (the College of Education) thrived with the lab school for many years.' Kelly, Strock and Rep. Joel Guggenmos, R-Riverton; Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne; and Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, voted for SF 126. Bratten, Erickson, Lawley and Rep. JD Williams, R-Lusk, voted against the bill.
