After an initial decision to exclude Democrats from Wyoming’s Education Committees, Senate leadership revised its stance, allowing Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) to retain his seat on the Senate Education Committee, where he has served since 2011, Wyoming News Now reports.
In December, legislative leadership announced committee assignments, which originally left Democrats off the Senate and House Education Committees for the first time in over two decades. This sparked concerns about bipartisan collaboration in addressing public education issues.
However, Senate President Bo Biteman (R-Ranchester) later reassigned Rothfuss to the Senate Education Committee after initially placing him on the Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee and the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. Rothfuss swapped his Corporations seat with Sen. Bill Landen (R-Casper), who expressed no objections to the change.
Rothfuss, a University of Wyoming professor, expressed satisfaction with the decision:
“Some decisions were rethought, and I advocated for continuing to be on the Education Committee,” Rothfuss told WyoFile. “I’m very happy that it turned out that way.”
Despite this adjustment, the House Education Committee remains without Democratic representation. The Wyoming Democratic Party had criticized the lack of bipartisan balance in committee assignments, stating in a December press release:
“Taking Democrats off the Education Committees shows that leadership is more interested in political control than working together to solve real problems.”
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which holds significant sway in the House, had also expressed dissatisfaction with committee assignments, calling Senate committee chairs “Liz Cheney Republicans” in a December Facebook post.
