ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
1
AN ACT relating to education; modifying the education
savings accounts program; changing the name of the program
to the steamboat legacy scholarship act; creating the
steamboat legacy scholarship program account; modifying
definitions; increasing the maximum scholarship award;
modifying eligibility requirements; repealing provisions;
providing appropriations; making conforming amendments; and
providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 21-2-901, 21-2-903(a), (b), (c) and
by creating a new subsection (d), 21-2-904(b)(i)(J), by
creating a new subparagraph (Q), (ii)(A) and (e),
21-2-905(e) and (f)(intro), 21-2-906(a)(i), (ix), (xi), by
creating a new paragraph (xiii) and by creating new
subsections (d) and (e) and 21-2-909, as amended by 2024
Wyoming Session Laws, Chapter 108, Section 1 and effective
January 1, 2025, are amended to read:
ARTICLE 9
STEAMBOAT LEGACY SCHOLARSHIP ACT
21-2-901. Short title.
This act shall be known as the "Wyoming Education Savings
Accounts Act." The program
created by this act shall be known as the "ESA program."
21-2-903. Education savings accounts; steamboat
legacy scholarship program account.
(a)
thereafter, the total amount to be deposited in an
education savings account ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
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shall be
compared to the federal poverty levels, using the most
recent federal poverty guidelines for the student's
household size and income, as follows; six thousand dollars
($6,000.00) for students as follows:
(i) For students eligible for an ESA under W.S.
21-2-904(a)(i), seven thousand dollars ($7,000.00);
(ii) For students eligible for an ESA under W.S.
21-2-904(a)(ii),
hundred fifty percent (150%)
hundred fifty percent (250%) of the federal poverty level
using the student's household income compared to the
federal poverty guidelines for the student's household size
and income, seven thousand dollars ($7,000.00).
(b) Payments to ESAs under this act shall be made by
the state superintendent of public instruction from the
Wyoming education savings accounts expenditure
legacy scholarship program account, which is hereby
created. The
steamboat legacy scholarship program
of funds transferred to the
funds appropriated by the legislature to the
account. All earnings from investment of the
steamboat legacy scholarship program account shall be
credited to the
unobligated balance of the
scholarship program
shall not revert but shall remain in the
account and shall be expended to fund ESAs as provided by
this act. ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
3(c) Payments to each approved ESA shall be disbursed
on a quarterly basis by the state superintendent
state agency or person designated by the state
superintendent to administer and disburse funds to
education savings accounts
(d) The ESA program shall not be funded with county,
city or school district tax revenues.
21-2-904. ESA parent agreement; ESA administration.
(b) To participate in the ESA program, the custodial
parent of an ESA student shall sign an agreement with the
state superintendent that:
(i) Requires use of the ESA funds for the
following qualifying expenses to educate the ESA student:
(J) Tuition and fees for summer education
programs and specialized after school education programs,
but not including after school childcare programs;
(Q) Tuition and fees for nongovernmental
online learning programs.
(ii) For students eligible for an ESA under
paragraph (a)(i) of this section:
(A) Requires that the ESA student receive
instruction in, at minimum, reading, writing, mathematics,
civics, including studies of the United States constitution
and the constitution of the state of Wyoming, history,
literature and science
progress. No parent shall be required to include any ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
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instruction that conflicts with the parent's or the ESA
student's religious doctrines;
(e) An ESA shall remain active and any unused funds
shall not revert until the parent withdraws the ESA student
from the ESA program or until the ESA student is no longer
eligible for the ESA program, unless the ESA is closed
because of a substantial misuse of funds. When an ESA is
closed, any unused funds shall revert to the
education savings accounts expenditure
scholarship program account.
21-2-905. Application.
(e)
percent (80%) of the ESAs shall be awarded to students
eligible pursuant to W.S. 21-2-904(a)(i) and the remaining
twenty percent (20%) shall be awarded to students eligible
pursuant to W.S. 21-2-904(a)(ii) each year. Any funds
allocated under this subsection for the award of ESAs to
students eligible pursuant to W.S. 21-2-904(a)(ii) that are
not awarded in any school year may be awarded to students
eligible pursuant to W.S. 21-2-904(a)(i).
applications for ESAs exceeds the available funds for any
school year, the students shall be selected on a
first-come, first-served basis, except preference shall be
given to the following students:
(i) An eligible student who received funds under
the ESA program in the immediately preceding school year;
or
(ii) A sibling of an eligible student who: ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
5 (A) Receives scholarship funds from an ESA
at the time the sibling applied for an ESA; or
(B) Received an ESA in the school year
immediately preceding the school year in which the sibling
applies for an ESA.
(f) For students
W.S. 21-2-904(a)(i), the following shall apply:
21-2-906. Duties of the state superintendent.
(a) The state superintendent of public instruction
shall:
(i) Establish a certification process for
education service providers, which shall, at minimum,
ensure ESA students attending qualified schools in
kindergarten through grade twelve (12) receive instruction
in reading, writing, mathematics, civics,
of the United States constitution and the constitution of
the state of Wyoming,
throughout their kindergarten through grade twelve (12)
tenure, and for pre-kindergarten ensure ESA students at
minimum receive instruction necessary for preparation to
enter kindergarten;
(ix) Investigate reports of intentional and
substantial misuse of ESA funds and prohibit an eligible
ESA student from receipt of ESA funds if the state
superintendent determines that the ESA student or ESA
student's parent intentionally and substantially misused
ESA funds. The state superintendent shall by rule create
procedures to ensure that a fair process exists to
determine whether an intentional and substantial misuse of ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
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ESA funds has occurred.
personal misconduct, that student shall be eligible for an
ESA in the future if placed with a different parent or
other person with the legal authority to act on behalf of
the student. The state superintendent shall have the
authority to refer suspected cases of intentional and
substantial misuse of ESA funds to the department of audit
or the attorney general for
investigation
of ESA funds is obtained. A parent or ESA student may
appeal a final decision of the state superintendent to make
the parent or ESA student ineligible for the ESA program as
provided by the Wyoming Administrative Procedures Act;
(xi) Notify parents and ESA students within ten
(10) business days if the state superintendent prohibits
rule create procedures to ensure that a fair process exists
to determine whether an education service provider
be prohibited from receiving ESA funds under paragraph (x)
of this subsection. Education service providers may appeal
a final decision of the state superintendent under this
paragraph as provided by the Wyoming Administrative
Procedures Act;
(xiii) If the state superintendent determines it
is necessary, withhold from the funds to be deposited in
ESAs, a maximum of five percent (5%) annually of the funds
to be deposited in ESAs in the first two (2) school years
of the ESA program and a maximum of three percent (3%)
annually of the funds to be deposited in ESAs thereafter to
pay for the costs of administering the ESA program.
(d) Rules adopted by the state superintendent under
subsection (c) of this section shall focus on simplifying
parental access to the program and encouraging educational ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
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service providers to provide parents and ESA students with
a broad array of educational options.
(e) The state superintendent may accept gifts and
grants from any source to cover administrative costs of the
program, to inform the public about the ESA program or to
fund ESAs.
21-2-909. Legal proceedings.
(a) No liability shall arise on the part of the state
superintendent of public instruction or the state or any
public school or school district based on the award of or
use of an ESA pursuant to this act.
(b) In any legal proceeding challenging the
application of this act or rule adopted under this act to
an education service provider, the state bears the burden
of proof to establish that the law is necessary and does
not impose any undue burden on the education service
provider.
(c) If any part of this act is challenged in a state
court as violating either the state or federal
constitutions, parents of eligible students and parents of
ESA students shall be permitted to intervene in any lawsuit
for the purposes of defending the ESA program's
constitutionality.
(d) If any provision of this act or its application
to an individual or circumstance is held invalid, the
invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications
of this act which can be given effect without the invalid
provision or application, and to this end the provisions of
this act are severable. ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
8
Section 2. 2024 Wyoming Session Laws, Chapter 108,
Section 3 and Section 6(c) is repealed.
Section 3. There is appropriated thirty million
dollars ($30,000,000.00) from the general fund to the
steamboat legacy scholarship program account created by
section 1 of this act for the purposes of the Steamboat
Legacy Scholarship Act. It is the intent of the legislature
that this appropriation be included in the standard budget
of the Wyoming department of education for the immediately
succeeding fiscal biennium. ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. HB0199
ENROLLED ACT NO. 52, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SIXTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2025 GENERAL SESSION
9Section 4. This act is effective immediately upon
completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law
as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming
Constitution.
(END)
Speaker of the HousePresident of the SenateGovernorTIME APPROVED: _________DATE APPROVED: _________
I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.
Chief Clerk