NGSS unblocked in Wyoming

Governor Matt Mead signed House Bill 23 into law on March 2, 2015, according to the Associated Press (March 2, 2015), so Wyoming is now free to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards.

The bill repeals a footnote in the state budget for 2014-2016 that precluded the use of state funds for "any review or adoption" of the NGSS. The treatment of climate change was cited as the reason for the footnote. 

The blockage of the NGSS was widely condemned by the state's scientists, educators, and newspapers, and the state board of education declined to develop a new set of science standards independent of the NGSS.

Whether the NGSS will in fact be adopted by Wyoming is up to the state board of education, since the bill directs the board to "independently examine and scrutinize any science standards proposed or reviewed as a template."  

So far the NGSS have been adopted in thirteen states — California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia — plus the District of Columbia.