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307bball said:
I don't get the sense there are ton of freedom caucus supporters here but my meter isn't great.
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Not now. Not on this particular topic. That's my point.

Go look at old posts on UW being a liberal indoctrination institute, or meander on over to the political threads on this forum. They're like a freedom caucus wet dream. All that rhetoric inevitably leads to where we are today.
 
Oh well, if there's absolutely one thing I'm sure of...it's that no one will do any introspection on what role they played in us getting to this point.
 
bullbugle307 said:
Not now. Not on this particular topic. That's my point.

Go look at old posts on UW being a liberal indoctrination institute, or meander on over to the political threads on this forum. They're like a freedom caucus wet dream. All that rhetoric inevitably leads to where we are today.
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Ahhh... That does jog my memory somewhat..... But you are right that I didn't wander into the political area much.
 
bullbugle307 said:
Oh well, if there's absolutely one thing I'm sure of...it's that no one will do any introspection on what role they played in us getting to this point.
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I recall some bad stuff about woke ideology at UW, like the “studies” programs. Don’t recall anyone wanting public K-12 education to be gutted
 
Meh,
bullbugle307 said:
Oh well, if there's absolutely one thing I'm sure of...it's that no one will do any introspection on what role they played in us getting to this point.
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So what's your prediction? How many schools will close? Will UW close shop? How many students will UW lose? Call your shot chicken little.
 
They're already closing 8 schools in Cheyenne. Gonna just cram those kids in the already packed new schools. Class sizes will increase, education outcomes will be reduced.

The thing I'm most worried about is the property taxes and how that is going to affect localities. Our local sheriff, very much a right wing culture war guy, likened what's coming to the defend the police movement. Said he'd have to fire 25 percent of his staff. Fire department will also be affected. Hope we don't have another huge fire like last year. Local response will be limited, as will the federal response after yesterday.

Apparently defund the police is ok now. I swear I don't even know what people stand for anymore, other than parroting whatever talking points they're supposed to on a given day.
 
But don't worry. These problems will take some time to materialize. By then, there will be some other boogeyman to blame them on.
 
bullbugle307 said:
They're already closing 8 schools in Cheyenne. Gonna just cram those kids in the already packed new schools. Class sizes will increase, education outcomes will be reduced.

The thing I'm most worried about is the property taxes and how that is going to affect localities. Our local sheriff, very much a right wing culture war guy, likened what's coming to the defend the police movement. Said he'd have to fire 25 percent of his staff. Fire department will also be affected. Hope we don't have another huge fire like last year. Local response will be limited, as will the federal response after yesterday.

Apparently defund the police is ok now. I swear I don't even know what people stand for anymore, other than parroting whatever talking points they're supposed to on a given day.
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Jessup, Deming, Miller, Hebard, Bain, etc…soon gone are the neighborhood Cheyenne elementary schools…largely because of prior cuts from the legislature in last year’s session. BUT it is going to get much worse after next year’s budget session.

Gordon will veto several of the crazy/clearly unconstitutional Freedom Caucus bills (he already stated this through a very first of its kind and strange preemptive warning) and some leadership in the Senate is purposely withholding some bills from making the floor. But this slight grip on sensibility will be gone next year. And JUST WAIT until we have a freedom caucus Governor elected in 2026.
 
LanderPoke said:
I recall some bad stuff about woke ideology at UW, like the “studies” programs. Don’t recall anyone wanting public K-12 education to be gutted
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Did they not? Cause that's what the majority of people who voted voted for.

The fact that they weren't smart to realize that when it was abundantly clear to many of us isn't anyone fault but their own.

That's my entire point here. So many people got so caught up in problems that barely exist in our state they completely took their eye off the ball when it comes to issues that do matter here.
 
Are there corresponding demographic challenges or just the freedom caucus boogeyman? A state that's centered on oil, gas, mineral revenue to support government jobs is going to have challenges.

I'm pretty certain the Cheyenne closures were coming before this group.

I'm not opposed or in support. I also don't think there will be major catastrophic events that can't be explained by demographics and economics as opposed to government.
 
ragtimejoe1 said:
Are there corresponding demographic challenges or just the freedom caucus boogeyman? A state that's centered on oil, gas, mineral revenue to support government jobs is going to have challenges.

I'm pretty certain the Cheyenne closures were coming before this group.

I'm not opposed or in support. I also don't think there will be major catastrophic events that can't be explained by demographics and economics as opposed to government.
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Whatever you gotta tell yourself man.
 
OrediggerPoke said:
Their instruction comes from DC. It’s all tied to extreme wealthy interests. The local members are largely the pawns that implement the extreme wealthy interests (many unknowingly). If you look at the bills the group brings forward in the legislature, they are carbon copies of the bills the national freedom caucus party attempts to advance in most states. They are finding success in Wyoming because they have secured the majority and have a TON of funding to put out half truths at best and just patently false information as a typical operating practice. Wyoming has never seen, until recently, the type of out of state wealth influencing local elections. Most people have no idea what’s going on right now and in a few years it will be too late when the local small town schools have shuttered their doors for good.
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now this is a conspiracy theory. wow
 
OrediggerPoke said:
One of the freedom caucus’ prized legislation will take the mineral trust funds designated for public schools and pay people for every kid that they claim to have a sum of $7000 annually to spend (or not) on whatever ‘education’ the people desire for their kids. Suddenly, I suspect we will have a lot more kids ‘living’ in Wyoming if this comes to pass.

I’d love one person to explain to me how this is going to be helpful to the small rural schools which are already struggling to justify keeping the doors open from a financial perspective. I’d love one person to explain to me how this is a good use of public money for the government to simply pay people in a system that will be littered with fraud and abuse. Not the Republican ideals I grew up with.
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I assume you're talking about some kind of voucher program?
 
Wow did this thread diverge from the original post! A lot of hand wringing over what the freedom caucus is doing. I get most of my news from Cowboy State Daily which seems to be pretty unbiased and I don’t see where the caucus is trying to destroy schools or the university. Is it because they want to cut property taxes or because they want to give money to people who don’t send their kids to public schools? Probably both.

I’m personally not that upset about property taxes. During my exile to Texas I was paying over $9,000 per year in taxes on a $365,000 house. In Casper I am paying around $2,200 on a similarly valued house so I am way ahead. I do see the concern of those who don’t have that perspective and have only experienced a huge increase in what they pay now.

In 2019 property taxes collected in Wyoming amounted to $380 million. By 2024, that number skyrocketed to $652 million. This from Cowboy State Daily. Where did all that money go? And that was during a time when schools and local governments were receiving millions in covid aid also. They either spent it recklessly or have a huge surplus socked away.

Also Wyoming is spending $18,000 per student in K-12. I don’t have any other numbers but there’s got to be some fat that can be trimmed off that. Taking away $7,000 for a student to go to private school isn’t going to be that big of a deal. If 10% of current public students leave with the $7,000, the remaining public funding increases to $19,222 per student.
 
The sky is falling people stuck to their tired and worthless ways of looking at the world and educating our children. The Prussian education model is not needed. Schools and Universities, especially universities, made sense when the all the world's knowledge was in books and those books were kept in great libraries at the University or at the local school house. Families had zero access to knowledge except at these places. Now, the whole history and knowledge of mankind is in their hands. Time to start thinking about how our society should adapt. You're all screaming about what will happen to all the horse barns if we eliminate the horse and buggy. There are definitely disciplines one would need to attend a university for but a great many do not. The greatest computer minds of our time didn't even go to college. Our model of education has been slowly declining for a long time. We keep pouring more money in it and it keeps getting worse. Add more money!!! We keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. No one exemplifies this more than bullbugle307.

School vouchers for education is a great thing. We currently spend $18,000, we could cut that to $14000 and give it as vouchers for collectives or homeschooling. Maybe a little more per student for private school. The market will provide. I think you'd attract a lot of quality educators if they were getting paid $168,000 to educate 12 kids. I do agree that the state really needs to put some strings on it for sure and if we change models, you'd need to put some thought into it.

Now, don't come screaming at me about this or that. I haven't fleshed out every aspect of this education revolution. But it needs to happen. The first step is to get the people who look to the past to begin looking forward. We're still basically in the infancy of this technological disruption. The truth is that state owned anything cannot adapt to changes in market forces and technology due to the bureaucratic structure. We see this in every single sector. Why do you all think education is somehow exempt from these forces? Do you think NASA would be catching and landing its own rockets? All the best weapons are developed by private companies because they're competing for contracts.

We need is a collaborative approach from all the smart people instead of so much resistance. We could be using our energy to guide the legislature instead of crossing arms and stomping feet. Is the freedom caucus going about this the right way? probably not. There will always be a shaky transition. What we know and all agree upon is the old model isn't working. If i had the perfect answer I'd bottle it up and sell it.
 
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ragtimejoe1 said:
Are there corresponding demographic challenges or just the freedom caucus boogeyman? A state that's centered on oil, gas, mineral revenue to support government jobs is going to have challenges.

I'm pretty certain the Cheyenne closures were coming before this group.

I'm not opposed or in support. I also don't think there will be major catastrophic events that can't be explained by demographics and economics as opposed to government.
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Would this be anther way to say that? Factors outside of the control of state leadership are aligned in such a way that expecting good/great outcomes is unrealistic.

If they best they can do is not great...are we just in for a prolonged time of political infighting and finger-pointing? Is there anything to be excited about or to look forward to? Any exciting prospects in the states future?
 
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