Catch Title: SF0018 Equal Access for Part-Time K-12 Students

Sponsor: Joint Education Interim Committee

Effective Date: July 1, 2026 (Applicable beginning the 2026-2027 school year)

Bill URL: SF0018 – Wyoming Legislature

Overview:

This bill amends Wyoming’s education statutes to mandate that all public K-12 schools be “equally free and accessible” to students attending on a part-time basis. It seeks to codify the right of parents—including those utilizing the state’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program—to enroll their children in specific public school courses or programs without requiring full-time attendance, provided they meet age and residency requirements.

Key Provisions:

• Mandated Part-Time Access: Amends W.S. 21-4-301(a) to explicitly include “children attending school on a part-time basis” in the guarantee of free and accessible public education.
• Local Regulatory Authority: Grants local boards of trustees the power to establish the specific “regulations” governing how this part-time access is implemented.
• ESA Integration: Confirms that parents of children eligible for part-time public school access retain the option to apply for the ESA program under W.S. 21-2-901.
• Age and Calendar Compliance: Maintains existing age requirements (5 years old by August 1) and the minimum 175-day school year requirement for districts.

Implications:

• The “Unfunded Mandate” Concern:
  • Staffing and Scheduling: Mandatory part-time access forces districts to accommodate fluctuating student counts in high-demand courses (e.g., lab sciences, advanced math) without a guarantee of additional staffing resources.
  • Funding Formula Lag: Because the Wyoming Funding Model is primarily driven by the prior year’s ADM, districts may face an immediate influx of part-time students but will not receive adjusted funding for 12–24 months.
  • Extracurricular Access: By declaring schools “equally free and accessible,” the bill likely grants part-time students the right to participate in sports and clubs. These programs are often funded by the “block grant,” which may be diluted if a student only generates a fraction of an ADM in revenue.
• State vs. Local Variability:
  • Because the bill leaves implementation to the “regulations of the board of trustees,” access criteria (such as course prerequisites or enrollment caps) could vary significantly between neighboring districts, leading to potential legal challenges over “equal access”.
• ESA Implementation Conflict:
  • Current WDE policy requires students to be “withdrawn” from public schools to qualify for ESA funding. SF0018 creates a legal tension where a student could technically be a “withdrawn” ESA student for funding purposes while remaining a “part-time” public student for service purposes.
• Accountability and Testing:
  • It is [Ambiguous] how part-time students will be factored into state accountability measures (e.g., WY-TOPP scores) if they only receive a portion of their instruction from the public district.