Wyoming
Rod Miller: The Separation Of Church And School In Wyoming
I want you to read something, and see if you find any ambiguity or waffle-language in what it says. Here it is.
Constitution of the State of Wyoming, Article 1, Section 19, Appropriations for sectarian or religious societies or institutions prohibited. No money of the state shall ever be given or appropriated to any sectarian or religious society or institution.
It appears to me that Wyoming’s Founders minced no words in saying that our tax dollars should never find their way into the collection plates of church-run schools. Never.
If you’d like a clear definition of the constitutional separation of church and state, read Article 1, Section 19 of our foundational document alongside the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment prevents government from establishing any religion, and also from monkeying around with a citizen’s right to practice any religion.
The Wyoming Constitution says that religious organizations will never get one thin dime of taxpayer money. Things don’t get much more separate than that. Things are rendered to either Caesar or to God, not to both.
And yet, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is hell-bent on violating that constitutional separation. They are pushing through legislation that would provide taxpayer dollars through public vouchers to private schools, including religious institutions, to compete with public schools in Wyoming.
That sounds a lot to me like the Freedom Caucus zealots want to establish publicly-funded madrassahs where the “Four R’s” – readin’, ritin’, rithmetic and religious dogma – will be taught to Wyoming students. One need only look toward theocratic states like Pakistan or Iran to see how that turns out.
I really don’t give a rat’s ass who teaches our kids, as long as our students are taught critical-thinking skills along with subjects that will make them good citizens of the Big Empty. But, for the life of me, I don’t see how immersing our students in Levitical Law, or the mysteries of endtime prophecy will help them one damn bit
Don’t get me wrong, I love Jesus as much as anyone does. I’m saved, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and have several gifts of the Spirit. One of those God-given gifts is the gift of discernment, and I can spot bullshit from a mile away. And the Freedom Caucus wanting to use public money to pay preachers strikes me as bullshit.
Nevertheless, they mount their pulpits and sermonize that their religious doctrine trumps our Wyoming Constitution. The zeal of their house hath eaten them up, (Psalm 69:9), and they want religious zeal to gobble up the rest of Wyoming. All on the taxpayers wallet, I might add.
If the Freedom Caucus can ram its school voucher program, including for religious schools, through the legislature, then it will be up to the Wyoming Supreme Court to maintain the crucial separation between the church and the Cowboy State.
If that happens, expect to see an army of out-of-state Pharisees…. er, ah, I mean Freedom Caucus lawyers…. argue for a religious state in Wyoming like they are arguing for the salvation of Christianity at the Council of Nicea.
They’ll thump on their Bibles, and quote the prophet Daniel to try to prove that there is no difference between religion and the state, and that taxpayer money should fund religious instruction.. They’ll try to convince our black-robed Supreme Court justices that Oklahoma, Kentucky and Pakistan agree with Freedom Caucus dogma, therefore Wyoming should, too.
But, I’ll bet a dollar to a donut that the Wyoming Supreme Court knows exactly what our Constitution has to say about that.
And now, you know too.
Rod Miller can be reached at: RodsMillerWyo@yahoo.com
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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