[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6668345,"mediaKeyId","2228495-e14b557d78082f0ecde42eb7c2d3fccc","parentId",2228495,"title","Education committee advances reading bill after adding department-led details; advocates urge interim work","audioSeconds",4012,"startMs",3103000,"endMs",7115000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2228495-e14b557d78082f0ecde42eb7c2d3fccc&start=3103&end=7115","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2228495-e14b557d78082f0ecde42eb7c2d3fccc/thumbnail_3103000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6668345/Wyoming/Education-committee-advances-reading-bill-after-adding-department-led-details-advocates-urge-interim-work","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668345-2110bc5a093c4bc16f78c592869779dd/orig.mp4?Expires=1770331816&Signature=dyJpvBpcn6~QaMGneCHILkQxLj6bkPPvOtxojzfc741cligwa31ADsgwLkgtDpATM1BPmFrMvVO5W8EqpTeGc5KwK~KEQiIdS~RZ8tuEwueAa5hsIMWEeTFCTnwzP8dczpdDmbJQwJ7-xyY-SM279y5962sxWdtB8EE1brE8qiLdI4ClKW8q1Y9P7dXSmw38wVGQhmxIolb9jAOhG8QtWTPbdjYzD3hA2bXsA8azIXeSAMRQbA0DOKglHMPukniHmXZRpikj8FMcM6LCcaEwn0QHdsX9wy5sqUz1fkclSELx~3hyn4o0-Lddfsyor5gtAOUGQachB188PR8Uy-wFWw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Wyoming Legislature","date","2025-02-05T17:02:56.813Z","article","The Wyoming Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5 approved Senate File 178 as amended, a bill that expands early reading screening, requires individual reading plans for students identified with reading difficulties and mandates specific professional-development expectations for district staff. The committee recorded a 3–2 vote and sent the bill forward amid broad testimony urging additional work in the interim.

Sponsor Senator Curt Scott said the amendment the committee adopted added “more detail on the functions that are there,” including a more complete statutory definition of reading difficulty, clearer timing for diagnostic follow-up, and a requirement that students identified with reading difficulty receive an individual reading plan that outlines evidence-based interventions. He told the committee the department and bill drafters had worked to remove drafting errors and that the amended language was intended as a solid step, not the final word.

Shelley Hamill of the Wyoming Department of Education, speaking for Superintendent Megan Degenfelder, thanked the committee for collaboration and said the superintendent still had concerns the statute did not yet reach its full objectives but welcomed the amended language as an improvement. The adopted amendment added screening and diagnostic detail, clarified a previously mistyped 15-day requirement, and spelled out interventions and supports to be provided when students are retained or otherwise identified for intensive help.

The bill drew extensive public testimony from practitioners, associations and parents. Annie Griffin, a 26-year educator and current Wyoming superintendent and literacy consultant, said statewide screening and intervention are important but warned that the statewide summative test used for accountability (WY-TOP) is not a comprehensive reading measure and that a single-day test “is not indicative of who [a child] is as a learner.” Griffin and other educators urged early, in-year intervention and professional learning supports rather than mandatory retention.

Dr. Erin Pazinski, k–12 literacy instructional facilitator in Weston 1 and a national literacy trainer, supported the bill’s direction and urged ensuring strong, ongoing professional development. “A 60% proficiency rate means that 4 out of 10 of our students are not reading at grade level,” she told the committee, arguing that the bill’s thresholds could allow districts to opt out of more intensive state support if they meet a 60% proficiency standard.

Opponents — including the Wyoming Education Association, district superintendents and school boards representatives — asked for an interim process to refine the measure. Tate Mullen of the WEA cited 75 years of research showing that retention can have lasting negative effects, and said recent studies that support retention include important caveats about long-term outcomes and necessary supplemental supports. Nick Bellag of the Wyoming School Boards Association raised concerns about assessment alignment and teacher licensure implications tied to specific exams.

A parent and literacy advocate, Megan Hesse, urged the committee to keep dyslexia visible in statute and criticized language that she said risks minimizing the condition; she also argued evidence-based instruction and stronger professional learning are critical. Multiple witnesses asked the Legislature to fund or provide state-level literacy specialists to support struggling districts, and several recommended using the interim to build stronger alignment between assessments, the science of reading and teacher development.

The committee accepted two major sets of changes: (1) the department-led compromise amendments that add diagnostic detail, the individual-reading-plan requirement and expanded professional development language; and (2) a later amendment that removed a clause authorizing broad civil relief provisions and narrowed the civil remedy language. After those amendments the committee voted: Senator Bridal — aye; Senator Olson — aye; Senator Rothfuss — no; Senator Scott — no (record shows he voted no on final committee tally); Chairwoman Schueller — no. The clerk announced a 3–2 result in favor of due pass as amended; the bill will now go to the full Senate. (Committee roll-call recorded in hearing minutes.)

Committee members and witnesses broadly agreed on the goal of improving early literacy but differed on the path — assessment choice, the role of retention, whether counties or the state should supply coaches or specialists, and how to balance parental rights with district planning. Several witnesses urged further stakeholder work in the interim to align instrument, instruction and teacher preparation to the science of reading before the Legislature enacts broad statutory remedies.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Senate Education Committee, February 5, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","The Senate Education Committee approved Senate File 178 on Feb. 5, advancing a measure that tightens screening and planning for students with reading difficulties while adding department-suggested details and prompting calls for more interim stakeholder work.","taxTitle","Education Committee, Senate, Committees, Legislative, Wyoming","taxId",61168,"location","Wyoming","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6668349,"Senate committee restricts use of K–12 major maintenance funds, allows grandfathering for projects in progress",3048,54000,3102000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2228495-e14b557d78082f0ecde42eb7c2d3fccc&start=54&end=3102","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2228495-e14b557d78082f0ecde42eb7c2d3fccc/thumbnail_54000.jpg","/articles/6668349/Wyoming/Senate-committee-restricts-use-of-K12-major-maintenance-funds-allows-grandfathering-for-projects-in-progress","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6668349-8b69bbdcdfe1f2808afa6411c75da1b5/orig.mp4?Expires=1770331816&Signature=iMN0hSQ5TmbKs29pqzyPhYs5vFp-qEX5sloUTW8KWbDbpRAHZGTY83Km1ozBY0KP1xUINBVDyjR8S5AUYyaGvPx2Wg1pysUtx5d8uP14FGJb7eWxHxY396-iL~vmG-E4k90g5rqxVlb56qlBZz2my4RJgNP-XqXN7-FOV5Y0UJH-SFOwx53o6a2mNuot88en96P84BJgp4iUJxOryrmqSCNxI3Z0HrolomjljxUA4kk5MLDjHYabqIFX3iZBd5FEu6eVKvJxbzY9080HhXj8nxFRw9kyiX-RPubz7xnq4PFsz8Fza4PvHX53fADBf9~Dg06em8mYnpP7qzBP9TzLNQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Wyoming Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5 passed Senate File 156, a bill that restricts how school districts may use state major maintenance dollars and requires reporting and grandfathering for projects already underway, sending the measure to the full Senate 3–2.

Sponsor Senator Eric Driscoll said the bill was aimed at ensuring “when we say major maintenance, we mean major maintenance,” and that the change would prevent districts from using the state-funded major maintenance program to finance new buildings or other enhancements going forward. The committee approved an amendment to allow districts to finish projects whose planning, design or construction expenditures occurred before the bill’s effective date and required districts to report amounts transferred from the foundation program that were used on such projects.

The bill sets a limit on how major maintenance grants and foundation-program transfers may be used, and draws a clear line between state-funded major maintenance and locally funded enhancements. Under the amendment the committee adopted, a district may complete a project in progress if it made planning, design or construction expenditures before the act’s effective date, and must report expenditures on such projects to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Construction Department by July 1 of each fiscal year in which the funds are spent. The Wyoming Department of Education and the State Construction Department must report to the Joint Education Interim Committee, the Select Committee on School Facilities and Joint Appropriations by Sept. 1 each year on those reports.

District officials and facility directors testified that districts have long relied on flexibility — commonly described in statute and practice as allowing up to 10% of major maintenance funds for enhancements — to maintain buildings or facilities that exceed the state’s “allowable square footage” or to fund items not fully covered by other state programs. Dan Celeroli, director of facilities for Sweetwater County School District No. 1, told the committee that enhancements sometimes reflect older buildings that taxpayers originally built and that districts follow School Facilities Commission procedures and show funding responsibility when proposing additions.

Teresa Chalk, superintendent of Lincoln 1, said she opposed the bill in its entirety but supported the amendment protecting projects already underway. Chalk told the committee many districts rely on depreciation reserve, sinking funds and the 10% flexibility to maintain enhancements once voters have approved construction and to provide upkeep once sinking funds expire.

Leaders from Laramie County School District No. 1 described programmatic reasons for additional square footage in Title I elementary schools — extra intervention rooms, specialist spaces and larger gyms — and cited water and turf decisions as cost and maintenance drivers. Jon (Jed) Ziccarelli, chief financial officer for Laramie County School District No. 1, said districts also use a mix of local reserves, ESSER funds and other sources for projects and contingencies such as insurance deductibles.

The Wyoming Association of School Administrators and other witnesses urged a more deliberative interim process rather than immediate statutory change. Boyd Brown, executive director of the Wyoming Association of School Administrators, warned the bill as written could be read to bar any use of foundation-program money for a range of purposes and asked for a collaborative interim review.

Committee members acknowledged the intent of the bill — to preserve state major maintenance dollars for core building repair and longevity — but several said they were concerned about unintended consequences for districts that have used the existing flexibility to fund security projects, turf fields, agricultural facilities, parking and other work. The Department of Education, represented by Dickie Schoener speaking for Superintendent Megan Degenfelder, supported the amendment that grandfathered projects in progress and asked the committee to clarify transition rules.

The committee approved the Driscoll amendment to allow districts to finish projects in progress and to require the reporting timeline described above. The amendment passed by voice vote. On final passage the committee recorded votes: Senator Bridal — aye; Senator Olson — aye; Senator Rothfuss — no; Senator Scott — aye; Chairwoman Schueller — no. The tally was 3 ayes, 2 noes. The committee sent the bill to the Senate floor as amended.

Next steps: the bill goes to the full Senate for further consideration. The committee record shows lawmakers and district officials expect additional technical refinements or an interim study if the Senate pursues broader reforms to how Wyoming funds and defines school facilities and maintenance.","The Wyoming Senate Education Committee on Feb. 5 passed Senate File 156, which narrows allowable uses of state major maintenance funds and lets districts finish projects already under way; the measure passed 3–2.","actionData","errors"]

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Education committee advances reading bill after adding department-led details; advocates urge interim work

Senate committee restricts use of K–12 major maintenance funds, allows grandfathering for projects in progress