A Sheridan Republican plans to sponsor legislation that would allow the Wyoming State Board of Education to adopt science standards that were barred by lawmakers earlier this year.
The bill would eliminate a budget footnote that prohibited the board from spending money to review or adopt the Next Generation Science Standards, in part because the guidelines indicate humans have contributed to global climate change -- controversial in Wyoming, where fossil fuels extraction dominates the state's economy.
“What the bill does is pretty straight forward and simple,” Rep. John Patton said Monday. “It simply removes Footnote No. 3 in the appropriations bill. It means the State Board of Education can continue with its work uninterrupted by the Legislature.”
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Many local school districts are still considering the standards, since the budget footnote is not believed to affect them.
Yet many scientists, parents and educators were upset that the budget footnote politicized education and that students’ science education would suffer. Patton said he’s heard the same.
During state budget negotiations, the Senate passed a bill without the footnote. The footnote was added in the House in March.
Senators deserve a chance to vote on the issue, Patton said. He believes there’s a good chance his bill will pass.
“I wouldn’t introduce it if I didn’t think I didn’t have good support,” he said.
Personally, Patton doesn’t know how much humans have contributed to global climate change, he said.
“How much of a polluter are we? How much of a contribution (are people) making? Those are questions that I don’t have an answer to,” he said. “I want the standards so we could study and learn to see if we can find out and learn what contribution we are making and what contribution we can make to diminish the pollutant if it is in fact significant.”
Patton said the bill has been drafted and will be released on the Wyoming Legislature’s website perhaps by the end of the week. He has co-sponsors, but he said he wasn’t ready to share their names.
The Legislature convenes Jan. 13.
“Education is an opportunity, and I am very strong supporter of trying to learn,” he said. “I’m not a very strong supporter of saying, ‘Infinite wisdom belongs to me today.’”
State school board member Pete Gosar of Laramie wants to see the ban lifted.
“I believe it has to be removed,” he said. “I don’t believe limiting what people can learn is helpful to an education system at all."
Reach political reporter Laura Hancock at 307-266-0581 or at laura.hancock@trib.com. Follow her on Twitter: @laurahancock.