We are thrilled to announce that Homeschool Wyoming and HSLDA are spearheading legislation, H.B. 46, the Homeschool Freedom Act, to remove the onerous requirement that homeschool families file an annual letter of intent with their local school district in order to homeschool. If H.B. 46, the Homeschool Freedom Act, is passed into law, Wyoming will join Alaska, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Connecticut in trusting parents to educate their children without needing to file with the local school district.

Educating and raising our precious children is a fundamental right, protected by the US and Wyoming constitutions, and enshrined into law in Wyoming’s Fundamental Parental Rights Statute at Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 14-2-206.

H.B. 46 advances freedom by removing an unnecessary and antiquated paperwork requirement that burdens both public school staff and homeschooling parents. It should be supported by all Wyoming parents. 

H.B. 46 passed out of the House Education Committee on Friday, January 17, on an 8–1 vote, and passed out of the Wyoming House on Thursday, January 23, on a 54–6 vote. It passed out of the Wyoming Senate Education Committee unanimously on Wednesday, February 19, with Senators Evie Brennan, Chris Rothfuss, Wendy Schuler, and Charles Scott all voting in support, and Senator Jared Olsen excused. It passed the Wyoming Senate unanimously on Thursday, February 20. 

You can read the letter of support that HSLDA sent to the Wyoming House sponsors here, and the letter of support that HSLDA sent to the Wyoming Senate Education Committee here.

We are working closely with Homeschool Wyoming and our allies from across the political spectrum on this bill. We want to thank Brenna Lowry (president of Homeschool Wyoming), Douglas Pietersma, and Wyoming State Representative Jayme Lien for their powerful testimony in support of H.B. 46 during the House Education Committee hearing on Friday, January 17, and Brenna Lowry, Monique McInnes, Erin Waszkiewicz, Douglas Pietersma, Representative Tomi Strock, Jessie Rubino from the Wyoming State Freedom Caucus, and many other Wyoming homeschool parents, for their powerful testimony in support of H.B. 46 during the Senate Education Committee hearing on Wednesday, February 19. I was pleased to join them in testifying in person in support of H.B. 46. 

We also want to thank the 54 members of the Wyoming House who stood with families and voted to pass H.B. 46! It was encouraging to watch the House debate and see so many Wyoming representatives speak in support of H.B. 46 and homeschool freedom. We were able to defeat a dangerous floor amendment on the Wyoming House floor, with the following arguments:

1. Any amendment to insert reporting language into H.B. 46 completely defeats the original purpose of H.B. 46—to bring greater freedom to Wyoming families.
2. Attempting to insert reporting language into H.B. 46 is unnecessary. Eleven states already do not require that families file anything with a school district. These 11 states are Alaska, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In these eleven states, children are still educated, there is no increase in educational neglect on the part of homeschooling parents, child welfare agencies can still act to protect children, educational neglect laws are still enforced, and federal CAPTA funds are still received.
3. Any amendment to insert reporting language into H.B. 46 would represent a direct attack against homeschool freedom. H.B. 46 as originally drafted and passed by the Wyoming House Education Committee provides greater freedom to homeschooling families and supports Wyoming’s leadership as a state that respects parental rights. We do not need “permission slips” from the government. Any attempts to amend H.B. 46 must be rejected.
    

After H.B. 46 passed the House, it went to the Senate. We want to thank Senators Evie Brennan, Chris Rothfuss, Wendy Schuler, and Charles Scott who all voted in support of H.B. 46 during the Senate Education Committee hearing on Wednesday, February 19. And finally, we want to thank every single Wyoming Senator. The unanimous vote in support of H.B. 46 on the Senate floor on Thursday, February 20, was incredibly powerful. 

As H.B. 46 heads to Governor Mark Gordon's desk, we respectfully ask Governor Gordon to stand with Wyoming home educators and the Wyoming legislature, and sign H.B. 46 into law. You can contact the Governor on his web page here to ask him to sign H.B. 46 into law.