• Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act
• • $7,000 per eligible student to be used for non-public school tuition and approved expenditures.
  • A total of $30 million allocated from state funds, so approx. 4,285 students will be eligible (possibly less with administrative fees).
  • No income requirement for K-12.
  • Pre-K income requirement—must be below 250% poverty level.
• Charter Schools
• • The state has 8 charter schools that are overseen by either the local district or Wyoming Charter School Authorizing Board.

Here are state requirements on the topic of homeschooling:

• At least 875 hours of instruction.
• must provide a “… sequentially progressive curriculum of fundamental instruction in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and health”.
• Provide to the Department of Public Instruction an intent to homeschool report annually.
• No testing or other reporting requirements.
• Home schooled students must be permitted to participate in public school interscholastic athletics.

Religious Exemptions:

The state has no formal laws related to religious exemptions but homeschooling only requires notification of beginning and ending.

The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Many argue that a religious conviction to provide a home-based education is constitutionally protected and a state religious exemption law is not a requirement to be able to homeschool on religious grounds.

It should be noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) established that “Under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, a state law requiring that children attend school past eighth grade violates the parents’ constitutional right to direct the religious upbringing of their children.” (The case involved a challenge of a 16-year-old student to be exempt, so the scope was limited)