Wyoming gets bad grade for education freedom

(The Center Square) – Wyoming got a bad overall grade in a new report on education freedom.

The Cowboy State received a “D” overall grade in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s new Index of State Education Freedom.

“States are increasingly recognizing that each student has his or her own unique needs, background, and learning style, and these new rankings focus on state-level policies that maximize educational opportunity for all students,” said the report, which scores states in the following categories: financing programs, charter schools, homeschooling, virtual schooling and open enrolment.

Andrew Handel, director of ALEC’s Education and Workforce Development Task Force, said the reason for Wyoming’s poor grade was a zero score in the school financing section.

“They have no programs like tax credit scholarships or vouchers or educational savings accounts (ESAs) that could help families go to a private school, so, that really knocked them down,” he said.

In addition to the “F” in financing programs, Wyoming got a “D” in the charter schools section, a “D” in open enrollment, a “C” in virtual schooling, and a “B” in homeschooling.

In terms of states that border Wyoming, Nebraska got an “F,” Montana and South Dakota received an overall grade of “C,” and Idaho, Colorado and Utah got “B” grades.

“Idaho is an interesting case coming in 8th place,” Handel said. “They did get a zero in the financing section but they scored very, very well in charter schools, homeschools, and open enrolment, so that kind of helped boost them in the top ten there.”