History+of+Superintendent+of+Public+Instruction

Schools were first organized in what was to become Wyoming Territory at Fort Laramie in 1852, and then at Fort Bridger in 1860. Following the organization of Wyoming Territory in 1869, the First Wyoming Territory Legislative Assembly enacted Chapter 7, Session Laws of the Territory of Wyoming, 1869, establishing a public school system for the new territory.
 * Administrative History of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Department of Education ** **From the Wyoming Blue Book Volume 5 Part 2, 1990**

The act provided for the territorial auditor to serve as ex-officio superintendent of public instruction. As superintendent, the auditor was to file school related reports and papers, recommend uniform titles for textbooks used by the school districts, ensure equal distribution of school funds among the counties, make rules and regulations necessary for the operations of school districts, supervise school districts in the territory, and report to the legislative assembly on the condition of the territory's schools.

Chapter 7, in addition to defining the duties of the superintendent of public instruction, also established the duties of the county superintendent of schools, an office created by the passage of Chapter 4, Session Laws of the Territory of Wyoming, 1869. Chapter 7, also provided for the organization of school districts, the duties of school district officers, and the collection of a county school tax. The county superintendent of schools was required to equitably distribute all school monies.

During the twenty-one years that Wyoming was a territory, few changes were made in the 1869 laws establishing the public school system. However, in 1873, with the passage of Chapter 58, Session Laws of the Territory of Wyoming, 1873, the territorial auditor was relieved of his duties as ex-officio superintendent of public instruction, and the function was assigned to the territorial librarian. The 1873 law also provided new functions for the superintendent of public instruction. These included granting teaching certificates for the territory and regulating county teaching certificates; calling for and convening teaching institutes for the instruction and advancement of teachers; and determining which textbooks would be uniformly used in the territory.

The Wyoming State Constitution, ratified in 1889, established the superintendent of public instruction as one of the state's five elected officials (Article 4). Article 7 of the Constitution directed the state legislature to provide for a uniform education system, including free elementary schools, a university with technical and professional departments, and "such other institutions as may be necessary." The article also: provided for public school revenues and restrictions on their use; established permanent educational funds from which only the interest could be used; prohibited discrimination among pupils and sectarian instruction; and denied the legislature the power to prescribe textbooks to be used in the public schools of the state.

During the one hundred years of statehood, the legislature has enacted many significant laws affecting public education in the state and the office of state superintendent of public instruction. The First State Legislature, during its 1890-1891 session, enacted legislation making territorial laws state laws, if not specifically repealed by the state legislature. One such "grandfathered" law was Chapter 103, The Compiled Laws of Wyoming, 1876, which authorized school districts to establish high schools, with the approval of the county superintendent of schools.

In 1895, the passage of Chapter 88, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1895, by the legislature, authorized school districts to establish public kindergartens, and manual and industrial training programs in high schools. Ten years later, Chapter 67, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1905, reiterated the legislature's position on free high schools and provided for the organization of high school districts, anticipating that the act would give more students the opportunity to attend high school. Chapter 93, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1907, enacted two years later by the legislature, strengthened compulsory attendance for students between the ages of seven and fourteen. Also in 1907, the legislature created the State Board of Examiners to examine and qualify teachers for certification. The board of examiners would later become a division in the department of education.

In 1917, the state legislature created the Wyoming State Department of Education to be administered by a state board of education, with the passage of Chapter 120, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1917. The superintendent of public instruction, an ex-officio member of the board, was authorized by the law to appoint a commissioner of education, who, in turn, acted as the board's executive officer and head of the public school system, executing board policy, management, and inspection of the state's schools.

Also in 1917, the enactment of Chapter 99, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1917, facilitated state receipt of federal funding under the Smith-­Hughes Act, passed by Congress to foster vocational education in the states. Chapter 99, also provided for the establishment of a division of vocational education in the department of education. The division was to assist school districts in developing classes in agricultural, industrial, and trade training and education.

Two years later with the enactment of Chapter 127, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1919, the legislature assigned general supervision of the public school system to the superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent was to provide for an annual census of school children; to consult with the board of trustees of the University of Wyoming for the development of a course of study for the normal school department; and to report biennially to the governor and the legislature on the status of the schools and the department of education, and offer legislative recommendations.

Chapter 41, also passed by the state legislature in 1919, addressed the special education needs of physically and mentally handicapped children. The department of education estimated that about one percent of the state's school age children were in this category. The first special class for handicapped children was initiated in Laramie, and was organized with the cooperation of the University.

In 1935, with the passage of Chapter 69, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1935, the legislature first addressed the issue of equalizing funding among the state's public schools. The act established a School Equalization Fund and charged the superintendent of public instruction to develop a formula, based upon various school conditions and expenditures projected for each type of school, so as to ensure fair and equitable distribution of the equalization funds. This act was the forerunner of the public schools foundation program which would be established twenty years later by the enactment of Chapter 119, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1955, and is still the framework for state funding of the public schools.

The act, Foundation Program for the Public Schools, consolidated state financing of the public schools into one program, and established eligibility standards for sharing in the funds by basing funding on classroom units. The superintendent of public instruction was charged by the law to allot classroom units upon the basis of average daily attendance in a school, and other factors in the formula established by the legislature. The superintendent of public instruction was also charged to distribute the funds, to which schools were entitled under the formula, to each school district. Although, many changes have been made in the school foundation program since 1955, it remains the state's principal method for funding the public schools in 1990, and the role of the superintendent of public instruction in the program has increased as the program itself has expanded.

The passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958 by the U. S. Congress, as a response to the Soviet Union's entry into space, ushered in new responsibilities for the department of education. Although federal monies for education had flowed through the department to the school districts since the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act in 1916, and then had included other vocational education funds and school lunch monies, the National Defense Education Act brought a large infusion of federal funds and increased responsibilities for the department. Congressional enactment of the Elementary-Secondary Education Act of 1965, further increased the department's work in distributing these monies.

The state legislature's adoption of Chapter Ill, the Wyoming Education Code of 1969, Session Laws of Wyoming, 1969, significantly changed public education in Wyoming and placed additional responsibilities on the superintendent of public instruction and the department of education. The act provided for comprehensive codification and revision of school laws concerning the operation and financing of the public school system, and it brought about massive reorganization of the state's school districts. The law required all school districts to be unified districts, offering an educational program from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. The only exceptions were the elementary schools and high school located on the Wind River Reservation. The law charged the superintendent of public instruction and the state board of education to carry out the reorganization of the school districts, by working through county committees.

During the two decades which have followed, the legislature has continued to make changes in the education code which have affected the functions of the department of education and the superintendent of public instruction. Most significant during these years has been state funding participation in school district capital construction, and funds recapture from school districts with greater than average local resources to the benefit of those school districts with less than average local resources. There has also been an increasing emphasis on education of the handicapped, with greater funding from both the state and federal government.

Like the governor, secretary of state, state auditor, and state treasurer, the superintendent of public instruction has been a member of numerous boards and commissions. For the superintendent, board membership was first mandated by the Wyoming State Constitution, Article 7, Section 17 which named the superintendent as an ex-officio member of the board of trustees of the University of Wyoming. Enactments of the legislature that followed the coming of statehood mandated the superintendent's involvement with other boards and commissions, so that during the 1960s, the superintendent of public instruction served on fourteen boards and commissions. Since then, the superintendent's board and commission membership has been reduced to six, in addition to the board of trustees of the University of Wyoming.

Many, many changes have taken place in public education in Wyoming since the coming of statehood in 1890. At nearly every legislative session during the one hundred years of statehood, acts were passed affecting the public schools, the Wyoming Department of Education, and the superintendent of public instruction. Throughout the years, despite the continuing change in public education, the department and the sixteen men and women that have served the state as superintendent of public instruction have been responsive to the needs of the state's school districts, and the boys and girls attending the public schools.