Mar. 6—CHEYENNE — A bill to protect parental rights in education has raised opposition from nurses, educators and now the governor himself.

Gov. Mark Gordon refused to put his signature on Senate File 9, “Parental rights in education-1,” after it was signed by Senate President Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, earlier this week. The bill will still go into state law, since the governor did not choose to veto it.

Despite his disagreement with the bill, Gordon recognized it was within the Legislature’s constitutional power to pass this legislation.

“I have to question if this law is really necessary at this time,” Gordon wrote in his letter, adding that parental rights in their child’s education are already protected under current state statute. “I struggle to see what additional value this bill brings for an individual parent and their child.”

A similar comment was made by Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, who sits on the House Education Committee. After the bill passed its third reading in the House, Brown told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle it didn’t change much from what was already written in state law.

“All we really did was codify what the Supreme Court has already said,” Brown said. “I don’t think the bill does a ton more than what we have already known as precedents from the Supreme Court.”

Gordon pointed out that federal laws, such as the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Act (PPRA), already protect parental involvement in their student’s participation in surveys, instructional material and certain physical exams.

Between federal law, state law and school district policy, Gordon said this bill was simply unnecessary.

“This legislation, in its current form, at best does little more to protect parents’ rights than existing law,” Gordon wrote. “At worst, it has the potential to interpose government between parents and their children …”

Furthermore, Gordon said he was concerned of the “unintended consequences” and “restrictions” this bill poses on school districts in their ability to manage education processes.

“Rather than confirming a parent’s right and ability to guide the fortunes of their children; this law may actually enable the specter of a self-appointed group to exercise the very same sort of doctrinaire interference that this bill is ostensibly supposed to defeat,” Gordon wrote.

Each day of the budget session costs the state roughly $50,000, and Gordon didn’t hesitate to remind lawmakers of their constitutional obligation in his letter — pass a budget. This was the primary message in his State of the State address on day one of the session.

“Job one this year is to pass a budget,” Gordon read in his State of the State address at the beginning of the session. “You have a good crew, and though there are lots of opinions, there is also commitment and expertise.”

Gordon reminded lawmakers of this message in his letter opposing the bill.

“As this is a budget session, there is one express constitutional duty of the 67th Wyoming Legislature: to pass a budget for the upcoming biennium,” he wrote.

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.