Why is the Wyoming Education Association Blocking Education Reform?
Wyoming public schools are average. Despite having one of the highest per-student spending rates in the country, Wyoming consistently falls in the middle of the pack when it comes to graduation rates, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, and ACT scores. Spending on education by the state has almost doubled in recent years, yet little progress has been made.
One of the reasons for this lack of progress is “tenure,” a complex set of procedures that shield ineffective teachers from being held accountable for their work. These tenure protections make it almost impossible to fire bad teachers – the process can take months and cost school districts tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Watch
Crisis in Wyoming’s Education System
Our nation is facing a public education crisis. America is in the bottom third of developed nations when it comes to scores on international tests—we rank 25th in math, and 21st in science. If that isn’t bad enough, Wyoming is in the bottom half of the United States when it comes to graduation rates (ranked 27th, according to the National Center for Education Statistics). Learn More
Learn More
Wyoming legislators have introduced a pair of laws — HB 212 and SF52 — that would reform the way teachers are granted lifetime jobs and help make it easier to remove incompetent teachers from the classroom. The Wyoming teachers union is fighting these reforms. Incredibly, they fight to keep incompetent teachers in Wyoming’s classrooms.
While the vast majority of teachers are hardworking and care about their students, the facts are pretty clear: Only one in three students in Wyoming reads at a proficient level. Only one in three 8th graders is proficient in math.
One in four Wyoming citizens does not graduate from high school. The ACT reports that only 17 percent of Wyoming students who took their college entrance exam met the benchmark for college readiness in English, math, reading and science. Forty percent of freshmen entering college need to take remedial math courses because they did not learn it well enough in high school.
The Wyoming union and its parent organization the National Education Association are more worried about keeping bad teachers in their jobs than ensuring our kids get the best education possible. Wyoming needs to not only be able to fire incompetent teachers, but also to be able to pay great teachers more. Learn More
Join
Join the conversation on our Facebook page or share our information on YouTube and Twitter.