Wyoming Voucher Lawsuit Advances Toward 2027 Trial

Families using the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship can keep receiving up to $7,000 per child while the constitutional challenge proceeds.

Updated on Nov. 12, 2026 in Scholarships

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of a red-brick schoolhouse bell hanging against a wide prairie horizon and distant mountains. — A Laramie County judge on Friday denied Wyoming's bid to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the $7,000-per-child Steamboat Legacy Scholarship voucher program, sending the case toward trial. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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A Laramie County District Court judge denied the state's motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship, a Wyoming voucher program, so the case will proceed toward a trial. The program, which is currently active, reimburses up to $7,000 per child for private school tuition or charter and homeschooling costs.

Why it matters

The ruling keeps open a legal challenge that could determine whether families in Wyoming can continue using state funds for private schooling and other alternatives to public school. Its outcome matters for how families plan and pay for K-12 education across the state.

The Steamboat Legacy Scholarship provides up to $7,000 per child, and as of September, 3,359 voucher applicants had been accepted. The judge wrote that a higher court's decision reversing an earlier preliminary injunction does not directly affect the court's prior holding that the plaintiffs have standing.

The players

Mark Gordon

Governor of Wyoming who signed the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship into law in 2025.

Steamboat Legacy Scholarship

Wyoming's state voucher program reimbursing up to $7,000 per child for private school, charter or homeschooling costs.

The details

Gov. Mark Gordon signed the program into law in spring 2025, and a district court judge temporarily halted payments that year while the lawsuit moved forward. The state appealed that pause to the Wyoming Supreme Court, which in May unpaused the program so voucher payments could go out ahead of the current school year. On Friday, District Judge Peter Froelicher denied the state's motion for summary judgment, allowing the lawsuit to continue. Critics allege the program sends taxpayer money to private, sometimes religious, institutions permitted to discriminate against certain children.

Spring 2025: Gov. Mark Gordon signs the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship into law.
May 2026: The Wyoming Supreme Court unpauses the program for voucher payments.
September 2026: 3,359 voucher applicants have been accepted.
November 2026: Laramie County District Court denies the state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Mid-2027: A trial on the program's constitutionality is scheduled.

Education Landscape

The case follows the May Wyoming Supreme Court decision that restarted voucher payments under the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship, extending a legal fight that began when the program was enacted in 2025. It sits within a broader state-by-state debate over whether public funds should follow students to private and alternative schooling.

Families currently receiving or applying for Steamboat Legacy Scholarship vouchers can keep using them while the case proceeds, since payments resumed after the May Supreme Court decision. Families considering the program should ask the program administrators or a qualified education adviser about current eligibility and how vouchers apply to their children's schools.

The takeaway

The program's future will not be settled until the mid-2027 trial, so the outcome remains uncertain for families relying on it. Families weighing private school or homeschooling options should confirm current program terms with the state's administrators before making plans.