Senate Education Committee advances House Bill 199, a universal ESA proposal, after hours of public testimony and amendments

House Bill 199, the proposal to expand Wyoming’s education savings accounts (ESAs) into a universal program, advanced out of the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 12, 2025, by a committee vote to recommend passage as amended.

The bill, introduced in the House and presented to the committee by the House sponsor identified in the hearing as Representative Andrew, would rename the program the Wyoming Freedom Scholarship, remove the income cap that previously limited eligibility to households under 50% of the federal poverty level, increase the maximum scholarship from $6,000 to $7,000 per student and change the funding mechanism by directing federal mineral royalty (FMR) revenue into the ESA account. Representative Andrew told the committee the bill “makes this program universal to everyone” and that the change removes the 50% federal poverty cap and raises the scholarship amount to better match private tuition costs.

Why it matters: supporters say the measure expands parental choice and directs public dollars to families for qualifying education expenses; opponents say it risks the funding and constitutional protections for public schools and could strip resources from districts that must still provide education to remaining students.

What the bill would change - Eligibility: eliminates the prior income cap, making ESAs available to all Wyoming students rather than only lower-income households. - Scholarship amount: increases the ESA award to $7,000 per student. - Program name: the House sponsor proposed the name Wyoming Freedom Scholarship; during committee markup senators adopted an amendment to change the bill title to the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act. - Funding: the bill as drafted would use a portion of federal mineral royalty (FMR) proceeds to fund the ESA account; sponsors said that design was vetted by outside…