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23LSO-0615
2023
STATE OF WYOMING
23LSO-0615
ENGROSSED
3.0
SENATE FILE NO. SF0130
Educational Freedom Act.
Sponsored by: Senator(s) Hutchings, Ide, McKeown and Steinmetz and Representative(s) Bear, Heiner, Ottman, Trujillo and Ward
A BILL
for
AN ACT relating to education; requiring instruction in public K-12 schools to be consistent with the principles of individual freedom as specified; providing definitions; and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1
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W.S. 21
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9
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101 by creating new subsections (h) through (m) is amended to read:
21
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9
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101.
Educational programs for schools; standards; core of knowledge and skills; special needs programs; class size requirements; cocurricular activities.
(h)
Each school district within the state shall adopt procedures and policies to ensure that instruction in the educational programs required by this section and any supporting materials are consistent with the following principles of individual freedom:
(i)
All members of the human race are equal as provided by article 1, section 2 of the Wyoming constitution;
(ii)
All citizens are politically equal as the laws of this state affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be without distinction of race, color, sex or any circumstance or condition other than individual incompetency or unworthiness duly ascertained by a court of competent jurisdiction as provided by article 1, section 3 of the Wyoming constitution;
(iii)
No ethnicity is inherently superior to another ethnicity and no sectarian instruction shall be taught on this topic as provided by article 7, section 12 of the Wyoming constitution;
(iv)
No person shall be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly on the basis of ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, disability or sex;
(v)
Meritocracy or traits, including solid work ethic, are not racist but fundamental to the right to pursue happiness and to be rewarded for industriousness;
(vi)
No person, by virtue of his ethnicity or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same ethnicity or sex;
(vii)
Instructional personnel may facilitate discussions and use curricula to address, in an age
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appropriate manner, the topics of sexism, slavery, racial oppression, racial segregation and racial discrimination, including topics relating to the enactment and enforcement of laws resulting in sexism, racial oppression, racial segregation and racial discrimination. Classroom instruction may include material that is inconsistent with article 1, section 2 and article 1, section 3 of the Wyoming constitution but classroom instruction shall identify these inconsistencies.
(j)
Administrative personnel shall not implement programs or policies that adversely reflect upon a person because of his ethnicity, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, disability, socioeconomic status or occupation or otherwise contradict the principles enumerated in subsection (h) of this section.
(k)
Any board of trustees of any school district shall not provide an educational program pursuant to W.S. 21
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110(a)(xv) that adversely reflects upon a person because of his ethnicity, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, disability, socioeconomic status or occupation or otherwise contradicts the principles enumerated in subsection (h) of this section.
(m)
As used in subsections (h) through (m) of this section:
(i)
"Instructional personnel" means any person employed by a school district who provides instructional services to students including teachers as defined in W.S. 21
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102(a)(vii);
(ii)
"Administrative personnel" means any person employed by a school district who has administrative responsibilities including the superintendent as defined in W.S. 21
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102(a)(v) and principals.
Section 2
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This act is effective July 1, 2023
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(END)
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SF0130