Rep. Ocean Andrew is a Freedom Caucus leader who uses his position as chairman of the House Education Committee to attack Wyoming’s public K-12 school system. 

He also regularly supports bills that restrict residents’ access to healthcare. In 2025, he voted to restrict rural residents’ ability to vote, cut unemployment benefits for workers, and to block a school lunch program for hungry children.

An unconstitutional “handout”

In 2025, Rep. Andrew sponsored a bill to create a private school “voucher” program that takes money from public schools and diverts it to families to use for private or Internet schools (HB-199). 

This is despite the fact that there are two quality public schools in Rep. Andrew’s district and no private schools. So, no one in Rep. Andrew’s district will benefit from this program unless they homeschool their children or send them to online school, while his district’s public schools will be harmed.

The voucher program Rep. Andrew created is blatantly unconstitutional, violating provisions in the state constitution that prohibit handing out public money to private schools. It will likely be defeated in court.

Untrained teachers and jailed librarians

Another anti-education bill Rep. Andrew sponsored this year would have eliminated professional standards for teachers, other than a high school diploma and the ability to pass a criminal background check (HB-100). This would decrease the quality of education in our schools and open the door for fly-by-night charter schools to hire completely untrained educators. 

Rep. Andrew also co-sponsored a bill that would have thrown school teachers and librarians in jail with felonies for distributing so-called “obscene” materials, including sex education books (HB-194).

Worse healthcare access

Rep. Andrew voted repeatedly during the 2025 session to decrease Wyoming residents’ access to healthcare. 

He voted against funding for children’s mental healthcare, even though multiple Albany County high school students have died by suicide in recent years (HB-1-2016).

He also voted against funding for increased maternity and OB-GYN healthcare (HB-1 2015).

Harder to vote and survive the off-seasons

Many people in rural Albany County cast ballots in elections by using the secure drop box located at the county clerk’s office. Rep. Andrew represents these people, but he voted to ban the drop boxes anyway (HB-131).

Rep. Andrew supported a bill that would have decreased the amount of time workers could receive unemployment benefits, making life harder on hardworking Wyoming families who do seasonal jobs (SF-175). 

He also voted against a bill that would have ensured hungry kids in Albany County can access school lunch over the summer, when they do not have the cafeteria to count on for a healthy meal (HB-341).