Proposed Constitutional Amendment Would Make Superintendent Appointee

The Wyoming legislature will consider asking voters if the State Superintendent should be an appointed position instead of an elected one.  

Lawmakers will consider a Joint Resolution that would place the proposed constitutional change on the ballot.  If approved it would turn the State Superintendent into an appointed position by 2015. 

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Kermit Brown says there is a benefit to having an expert run the office instead of a politician, especially with the importance lawmakers have placed on the Department of Education.

“Somebody that doesn’t go out and run on an agenda that is at odds with the agenda that the legislature has,” says Brown. “There’s just a tension that is inherent there that might be resolved this way, but as I say I have not fully made up my mind.”

Brown says one concern is that it would drop the number of top elected officials serving on boards from five to four.  He also says it is not directed at current Superintendent Cindy Hill.  Brown says these concerns have existed for some time.