Court to consider whether to close case over Wyoming school choice program in battle over education freedom

A court will soon consider whether to throw out a lawsuit over Wyoming’s school choice program, as families in the state have been entangled in a months-long legal fight for educational freedom.

Wyoming’s education savings account program, established in 2024, allows eligible students to receive $7,000 a year for educational expenses including tuition, curriculum, tutoring and other education costs.

 The Wyoming Education Association sued over the program in June 2025, arguing that it “diverts public education funds to private entities,” and a district court granted an injunction against it. In May, the Wyoming Supreme Court overturned the injunction, upholding the program as it proceeds in the lower courts, as Heartlander News reported.

EdChoice Legal Advocates is now asking the district court to throw out the case, and a hearing will be held Aug. 31 in the 1st Judicial District in Laramie County, located in Cheyenne. 

“We think in light of the Wyoming Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year, that there’s really nothing left of this case and that the trial court needs to decide it in our favor,” EdChoice Director of Litigation Thomas Fisher told Heartlander News in an interview. “The plaintiffs have not come up with a theory for why the ESA program, the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship program, violates the Wyoming Constitution, and as a result the court just needs to decide this case now in our favor and in the state’s favor.”

Proceeding with the case would be “a waste of time,” given what the state Supreme Court already ruled, he added.

The court already held that the plaintiffs “can’t plead any effect on their rights under the public school clauses of the Wyoming Constitution, which is to say those clauses that require the state to have a public school system,” he said. “They’ve said there’s no allegation in the complaint that somehow the ESA program compromises public school funding, and it pointed out that the ESA scholarships are separately funded, so there’s no diversion of money away from public schools.”

Heartlander News reached out to the Wyoming Education Association for comment.

Fisher said if the court moves to end the lawsuit, his clients and other families across the state can “have a greater deal of comfort” that they can depend on the program in the future.

“They can build their children’s education decisions around the understanding that these benefits are going to be available,” he said. “I think that gives families peace of mind but it also helps them think through not just this year’s education but next year or maybe down the road what to prepare for.”

Nikki Leck, a mother and a client in the case, said the state’s school choice program will give her family “the financial flexibility to choose the educational option that best meets the needs of each of our three children.”

“We felt strongly enough to join this case because education is not one-size-fits-all, and the best educational option for a child should not be a financial decision,” she said in a statement to Heartlander News. “We believe every Wyoming family, regardless of income or ZIP code, deserves the freedom and opportunity to choose an environment where their children can learn, grow, and thrive.”