Nine parents of school-aged children and the Wyoming Education Association, which represents over 6,000 public school employees in the state, filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging the constitutionality of Wyoming’s education savings account program, which was established by the legislature.
The program, which lawmakers established in 2024 and significantly expanded during their visit to Cheyenne this year, will provide up to $7,000 per K-12 student to Wyoming families each year to cover private education costs.
The WEA’s complaint alleges that the program violates the Wyoming Constitution in two ways. One for diverting public funds to private enterprises, which the lawsuit claims is clearly illegal.
The second is for violating Wyoming’s constitutional mandate to provide “a complete and uniform system of education.”
In a phone interview with WyoFile on Friday, Kim Amen, president of WEA, said that the program puts children at risk of falling behind while wasting taxpayer dollars on unqualified operators.
Proponents of education savings accounts, also known as voucher programs, argue that it gives parents more options for educating their children and allows the smallest rural communities to bring schools in if they do not qualify for state-funded public school investments.
The constitutional arguments in the lawsuit are similar to those advanced by the program’s opponents during recent statehouse debates over its expansion, one of the most contentious issues of the 2025 legislative session. The debate sparked interest and action from national school choice organizations in Cheyenne.
“They were told over and over that this was unconstitutional and they chose to pass it anyway,” Amen claimed.
Megan Degenfelder, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Curt Meier, State Treasurer, are named as defendants alongside the state.
Meier is named because WEA is seeking a court injunction to prevent the treasurer from disbursing funds. Degenfelder supported the program and is failing to uphold the state’s public education system, Amen claimed on Friday.
A department of education spokesperson did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment on the lawsuit late Friday afternoon.
House Education Chairman Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, a key supporter of the school voucher legislation, told WyoFile on Friday that he did not believe the lawsuit would succeed based on similar cases in other states.
“Legal challenges like this are expected whenever bold school choice programs are implemented,” said the governor. “Wyoming’s ESA program was crafted carefully to withstand this kind of scrutiny, and we’re confident it will stand.”
The new lawsuit marks the second major front in the legal battle between public schools and Wyoming’s increasingly conservative legislature, which has limited public education funding while encouraging the growth of privately run charter schools.
The lawsuit directly challenges the Legislature’s recent expansion of its voucher program, which uses public funds to pay for private education.
However, in Friday’s complaint, the WEA’s attorneys linked the voucher program to lawmakers’ failure to fund public education at the high standards required by Wyoming’s constitution.
Educators won a significant legal victory in February, during the legislative session, when a district court judge ordered lawmakers to reexamine the public school funding model.
“While the ink was still drying on the District Court’s decision, the Wyoming Legislature … greatly expanded the existing Voucher Program to all students in Wyoming,” according to the complaint.
The state has appealed the school funding case to the Wyoming Supreme Court, which has not yet heard it.
The WEA will continue to sue the Legislature if lawmakers pass bills that the organization believes are unconstitutional and detrimental to public education, Amen stated.
“The voucher school program disproportionately benefits wealthy families,” she told me. “We remain dedicated to defending our public educators, students, and families.” “Public money belongs in public schools.”
