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2003 General Session
HJ 10 proposed an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution, adding language to specify that any funding system for public schools adopted by the Legislature would be presumed to be valid, and that any legal challenge based on the constitutionality of the school finance system would be reviewed based on a rational basis standard of review.
When the constitutionality of a law is judged, different standards of review may be used. A rational basis standard of review is the lowest (or weakest) standard of review possible. During judicial review, if the judges find a rational basis in the intent of the law, then it may be judged to pass constitutional muster.
Supporters of HJ 10 believed the Legislature should have more latitude in establishing school finance systems than the Wyoming Supreme Court has allowed them under the Wyoming Constitution. They believed the only way to win legal challenges based on the constitutionality of school finance systems is to change the Constitution to specify that they will be judged by the weaker rational basis standard of review.
Opponents felt HJ 10, if it passed, would have made it almost impossible for school districts to hold the Legislature to a funding system that provides an equal educational opportunity to all Wyoming schoolchildren, as is presently guaranteed by Wyoming's Constitution.
HJ 10 was defeated in the House Education Committee with an unrecorded vote.