House fails to override governor's veto on charter school bill; veto sustain leaves changes blocked

The Wyoming House of Representatives voted on a motion to override the governor’s veto of Senate Enrolled Act 22 (Senate File 61), which would have made two principal changes: allow qualifying charter schools to be their own local education agencies (LEAs) for purposes such as direct receipt of federal funds, and provide charter schools with 10 equal payments.

Chairman Northrup moved the override to restore the enrolled act. Supporters, including Representative Olson and Representative Vander, said the bill would simplify federal grant administration for charter schools and allow the schools to receive federal funds directly, arguing the state-level authorizing board was not yet staffed or resourced to perform that role. Representative Vander referenced other states where charter schools operate as LEAs and emphasized operational efficiency.

Opponents, including Representative Brown, urged caution and said the governor’s veto letter raised legitimate governance concerns—chief among them that the state has not yet given the charter authorization board sufficient time to function and that piecemeal statutory changes risk unintended long-term consequences. Brown and others urged a comprehensive review instead of incremental changes.

The House voted on the override; the clerk recorded 41 aye, 20 no, 1 excused. Because the motion required a two-thirds majority to override the veto, the recorded tally failed to meet the constitutional threshold and the governor’s veto of Senate Enrolled Act 22 remains in place.

Ending: With the veto sustained, the House moved on to other conference committee reports.