2024 24LSO-0561
STATE OF WYOMING
SENATE FILE NO. SF0112
Wyoming Freedom Scholarship Act-2.
Sponsored by: Senator(s) Boner, Biteman, Brennan, Salazar and Steinmetz and Representative(s) Andrew
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to education; creating the Wyoming Freedom
2 Scholarship Act; authorizing education savings accounts;
3 specifying legal proceedings; creating an account;
4 providing for a transfer of funds to the account; providing
5 for the use and administration of education savings
6 accounts for education; providing powers and duties of the
7 state treasurer; providing rulemaking authority; specifying
8 that a qualified school is not an agent of the state or
9 federal government; establishing an oversight committee;
10 making conforming amendments; authorizing a temporary
11 committee as specified; providing standing in a lawsuit
12 challenging this act; providing an appropriation; and
13 providing for effective dates.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
1 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1
2 Section 1. W.S. 21-2-901 through 21-2-910 are created
3 to read:
4
5 ARTICLE 9
6 WYOMING FREEDOM SCHOLARSHIP ACT
7
8 21-2-901. Short title.
9
10 This act shall be known as the "Wyoming Freedom Scholarship
11 Act." The program created by this act shall be known as the
12 "ESA program."
13
14 21-2-902. Definitions.
15
16 (a) As used in this act, unless the context otherwise
17 requires:
18
19 (i) "Curriculum" means a course of study for
20 content areas or grade levels, including any supplemental
21 materials required or recommended by the curriculum;
22
2 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 (ii) "Education savings account" or "ESA" means
2 the spending account for a child's education to which funds
3 are allocated by the state treasurer, for which a parent of
4 an ESA student enters into an agreement with the state
5 treasurer to choose and pay for qualifying education
6 expenses to educate the ESA student, subject to the
7 requirements and conditions of this act;
8
9 (iii) "Education service provider" means a person
10 or organization, including a qualified school, that receives
11 payments authorized by a parent from education savings
12 accounts to provide educational goods and services to ESA
13 students;
14
15 (iv) "Eligible student" means a child who is a
16 Wyoming resident, who is eligible to attend a public school
17 in this state and who has not graduated from high school,
18 received a high school equivalency certificate or completed
19 the equivalent of high school through a home-based
20 educational program;
21
22 (v) "ESA student" means an eligible student who
23 is participating in the ESA program;
3 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1
2 (vi) "Parent" means a resident of this state who
3 is the parent, stepparent or legal guardian of an eligible
4 student or ESA student and may include an eligible student
5 or ESA student who is an emancipated minor;
6
7 (vii) "Qualified school" means a nongovernmental
8 primary or secondary school that is located in this state
9 or that provides education services in this state and that
10 does not discriminate on the basis of race, color or
11 national origin;
12
13 (viii) "State treasurer" may include an
14 organization that the state treasurer has contracted with
15 to carry out the purposes of this act under W.S.
16 21-2-906(a)(iv);
17
18 (ix) "This act" means W.S. 21-2-901 through
19 21-2-910.
20
21 21-2-903. Education savings accounts; Wyoming freedom
22 scholarship program account.
23
4 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 (a) The total amount to be deposited in an education
2 savings account for an ESA student each year shall be six
3 thousand dollars ($6,000.00) as adjusted annually by the
4 state treasurer for the costs of inflation using the
5 consumer price index or its successor index of the United
6 States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics.
7
8 (b) Payments to ESAs under this act shall be made by
9 the state treasurer from the Wyoming freedom scholarship
10 program account, which is hereby created. The account shall
11 consist of funds transferred to the account and other funds
12 appropriated by the legislature to the account. All
13 earnings from investment of the account shall be credited
14 by the state treasurer to the account. Except as provided
15 by subsection (c) of this section, any unencumbered,
16 unobligated balance of the account at the end of each
17 fiscal year shall not revert but shall remain in the
18 account and shall be expended to fund ESAs as provided by
19 this act.
20
21 (c) If at the end of a fiscal year the state
22 treasurer determines that the amount in the Wyoming freedom
23 scholarship program account is more than thirty million
5 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 dollars ($30,000,000.00) and is more than one hundred and
2 fifty percent (150%) of the amount required to fund all
3 approved ESAs for the applicable fiscal year, the state
4 treasurer shall transfer the excess amount determined under
5 this subsection to the school foundation program account.
6
7 (d) Payments to each approved ESA shall be disbursed
8 on a quarterly basis by the state treasurer or another
9 state agency or person designated by the state treasurer to
10 administer and disburse funds to education savings
11 accounts.
12
13 (e) The ESA program shall not be funded with county,
14 city or school district tax revenues.
15
16 21-2-904. ESA program parent agreement; ESA
17 administration.
18
19 (a) Before participation in the ESA program, each
20 parent of an ESA student shall sign an agreement with the
21 state treasurer to do all of the following:
22
6 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 (i) Use the funds deposited in the ESA only for
2 any of the following qualifying expenses to educate the ESA
3 student:
4
5 (A) Tuition and fees at a qualified school;
6
7 (B) Tuition and fees for nongovernmental
8 online learning programs;
9
10 (C) Tutoring services provided by a person
11 or a tutoring facility. The tutoring services shall not be
12 provided by an ESA student's immediate family;
13
14 (D) Services contracted for and provided by
15 a public school district including at a charter school.
16 Services under this subparagraph may include, without
17 limitation, individual classes and extracurricular
18 activities and programs;
19
20 (E) Textbooks, curriculum and other
21 instructional materials, including, but not limited to, any
22 supplemental materials or associated online instruction
7 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 required by either a curriculum or an education service
2 provider;
3
4 (F) Computer hardware or other
5 technological devices that are primarily used to help meet
6 an ESA student's educational needs;
7
8 (G) Educational software and applications;
9
10 (H) School uniforms;
11
12 (J) Fees for nationally standardized
13 assessments, advanced placement examinations, examinations
14 related to college or university admission and tuition and
15 fees for preparatory courses for the exams;
16
17 (K) Tuition and fees for summer education
18 programs and specialized after school education programs,
19 but not after school childcare;
20
21 (M) Tuition, fees, instructional materials
22 and examination fees at a career or technical school;
23
8 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 (N) Educational services and therapies
2 including, but not limited to, occupational, behavioral,
3 physical, speech-language and audiology therapies;
4
5 (O) Tuition and fees at an institution of
6 higher education;
7
8 (P) Fees for transportation paid to a
9 fee-for-service transportation provider for the student to
10 travel to and from an education service provider;
11
12 (Q) Any other educational expense approved
13 by the state treasurer.
14
15 (ii) As provided in this section, use Wyoming
16 freedom scholarship program account monies to provide an
17 education for the ESA student that provides instruction in
18 at least reading, writing, mathematics, civics, history,
19 literature and science. No parent shall be required to
20 include any instruction that conflicts with the parent's or
21 ESA student's religious doctrines; and
22
9 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 (iii) Not enroll the qualified student in a
2 school district or charter school and to release the
3 applicable school district from all obligations to educate
4 the qualified student. This paragraph shall not:
5
6 (A) Require an eligible student to withdraw
7 from a school district or charter school before applying
8 for or receiving an ESA if the eligible student withdraws
9 from the school district or charter school before receiving
10 or expending any monies in the student's ESA;
11
12 (B) Prevent a qualified student from
13 applying in advance for an ESA to be funded beginning the
14 following school year;
15
16 (C) Prevent the school district or charter
17 school from charging an ESA for any services provided to
18 the qualified student to the extent authorized by law.
19
20 (b) Funds in an ESA shall not be paid, refunded,
21 rebated or shared with a parent or ESA student in any
22 manner. Any refund or rebate for goods or services
10 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 purchased with ESA funds shall be credited directly to the
2 student's ESA.
3
4 (c) Parents may make payments for costs of
5 educational goods and services not covered by the funds in
6 the ESA. Personal deposits into an ESA shall not be
7 permitted.
8
9 (d) Funds deposited in an ESA shall not constitute
10 taxable income to the parent or the ESA student except to
11 the extent required by federal law.
12
13 (e) An ESA shall remain active and any unused funds
14 shall roll over from quarter to quarter and from year to
15 year until the parent withdraws the ESA student from the
16 ESA program or until the ESA student is no longer eligible
17 for the ESA program, unless the ESA is closed because of a
18 substantial misuse of funds. When an ESA is closed, any
19 unused funds shall revert to the Wyoming freedom
20 scholarship program account.
21
22 (f) Nothing in this act shall be construed to require
23 an ESA student to be enrolled, full-time or part-time, in a
11 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 private school or a nonpublic online school as long as the
2 ESA student is receiving instruction as required under
3 paragraph (a)(ii) of this section.
4
5 21-2-905. Application.
6
7 (a) A parent may apply to the state treasurer to
8 establish an ESA for an eligible student.
9
10 (b) The state treasurer shall establish procedures
11 for approving applications in an expeditious manner.
12
13 (c) The state treasurer shall create a standard form
14 that parents can submit to establish their student's
15 eligibility for the ESA program and shall ensure that the
16 application form is publicly available and that completed
17 applications may be submitted through various sources,
18 including the internet.
19
20 (d) The state treasurer shall approve an application
21 for an ESA if:
22
12 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 (i) The parent submits an application for an ESA
2 in accordance with any application procedures established
3 by the state treasurer;
4
5 (ii) The student on whose behalf the parent is
6 applying is an eligible student;
7
8 (iii) Funds are available for the ESA;
9
10 (iv) If the number of applications exceeds the
11 amount available from the Wyoming freedom scholarship
12 account for a school year, the students shall be selected
13 on a first come, first served basis, except enrollment
14 preference shall be given to the following students:
15
16 (A) An eligible student who in the previous
17 school year used an ESA; or
18
19 (B) A sibling of an eligible student who:
20
21 (I) Receives scholarship funds from an
22 ESA at the time the sibling applied for an ESA; or
23
13 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 (II) Received an ESA in the school
2 year immediately preceding the school year in which the
3 sibling applies for an ESA.
4
5 (v) The parent signs an agreement with the state
6 treasurer as provided in W.S. 21-2-904(a).
7
8 (e) A signed agreement between the parent and state
9 treasurer under W.S. 21-2-904(a) shall satisfy the
10 compulsory school attendance requirements of W.S. 21-4-102
11 if the parent provides the student's resident school
12 district annual notice of intent to participate in the ESA
13 program.
14
15 (f) Upon notice to the state treasurer, an ESA
16 student may choose to stop receiving ESA funding and enroll
17 full-time in a public school. Enrolling as a full-time
18 student in a public school shall result in the immediate
19 suspension of payment of additional funds into the
20 student's ESA and the state treasurer may close the ESA. If
21 an eligible student applies to the state treasurer to
22 return to the ESA program, payments into the student's
23 existing ESA may resume if the ESA is still open and
14 SF0112
 2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0561
1 active. A new ESA may be established if the student's ESA
2 was closed.
3
4 (g) The state treasurer may adopt rules and policies
5 to provide a process for ESA students who choose to stop
6 receiving ESA payments to enroll full-time in a public
7 school.
8
9 21-2-906. Duties of the state treasurer.
10
11 (a) In addition to the state treasurer's duties,
12 obligations and authority specified in other sections of
13 this act, the state treasurer shall:
14
15 (i) Maintain an updated list of education
16 service providers, including qualified schools, and ensure
17 that the list is available to parents of ESA students. The
18 list shall enable the education service provider to
19 indicate if the education service provider is accepting ne