Wyoming State Capitol Building
Photo credit: Alan Levine (CC-By-2.0)
I mentioned on Wednesday that we’ll be highlighting (Common Core, local control, data privacy, etc.) bills that we hear about in different states. This story showed up a few times in my Google alerts. Usually we laud different bills or, at the very least, see most as a positive step forward. There is a bill in Wyoming that is nothing but a big step backwards. A lawmaker wants to undo a positive measure that was passed last year that prevented the Wyoming State Board of Education from adopting the Next Generation Science Standards.
Representative John Patton of Sheridan says he will sponsor a bill that would eliminate a budget footnote that barred the State Board of Education from spending money on reviewing or adopting the Next Generation Science Standards.
The controversial standards were blocked by lawmakers in March. They took issue with how the role of humans in global climate change was presented in the science standards for K-12 education. Patton says education standards are the responsibility of the State Board, not lawmakers.
“It’s not the role of the Legislature to sit and second guess everything that every department does,” says Patton. “That’s all the footnote does is says, ‘Let the process work.’ That process is more important.”
So the Wyoming State Legislature is supposed to let the State Board of Education to do whatever the hell it wants? Where is the accountability? Where is the oversight? The legislature controls the budget. This was a constitutionally sound measure they passed last March and they should keep it in place. As bad as the Common Core is, the Next Generation Science Standards are even worse.