Wyoming families can now spend $7,000 per student on homeschool curriculum, tutoring, and other approved education costs through the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship. That money was on hold for most of last school year while a lawsuit worked its way through the courts. On May 14, 2026, the Wyoming Supreme Court lifted the injunction, and the Wyoming Department of Education reopened applications on July 6.
This guide covers what a Wyoming ESA homeschool family needs to know right now. You'll learn who qualifies, how the application works, and how to spend the money on the Odyssey marketplace. I'll also explain what Wyoming homeschool law requires after the 2025 Home School Freedom Act, and I've built two spending plans with real workbook prices.
What the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Is and Where It Stands Today
The Steamboat Legacy Scholarship is the Wyoming education savings account program. The state deposits $7,000 per approved student into an account that parents direct toward approved expenses. The money follows the child, not a school, which is why it works for homeschool families as well as private school families.
Its history is short but eventful. The legislature created the Wyoming Education Savings Account Act in 2024 with income limits and a smaller award. In 2025, lawmakers passed House Bill 199, the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act, which made the program universal.
The 2025 law removed the income cap for K through 12 students, raised the award to $7,000, and set aside $30 million in funding. You can read the program summary and legal history on the EdChoice page for the Wyoming education savings account program.
The Court Timeline in Plain English
Here is the part most guides skip. On June 13, 2025, the Wyoming Education Association and a group of parents sued the state, arguing the program violates the education article of the Wyoming Constitution. Before the first payments went out, a Laramie County district judge put the program on hold, and an injunction issued that fall kept it frozen for nearly a year. Roughly 4,000 families had applied for the 2025 to 2026 school year and were left waiting.
On May 14, 2026, the Wyoming Supreme Court unanimously lifted the injunction. The justices found that the challengers hadn't shown they would suffer personal, irreparable harm if funding began. That ruling let the state move forward, and the Wyoming Department of Education opened 2026 to 2027 applications on July 6.
One honest caution: the underlying lawsuit is not over. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the district court for reconsideration, so the program's long-term status is still being decided. Funds are flowing now, and families should spend them on the schedule the program sets. Check the Wyoming Department of Education's Education Savings Account page before you make plans that depend on next year's award.
Who Qualifies for Wyoming ESA Homeschool Funding
Eligibility is simple for most families. Your child must be a Wyoming resident, at least 4 years old by August 1 of the year you apply, and not enrolled full time in a public school. For kindergarten through 12th grade there is no income test. A family earning $50,000 and a family earning $250,000 both qualify for the same $7,000.
Preschool is the one exception. PreK students qualify only if household income is at or below 250% of the federal poverty level, which works out to roughly $78,000 for a family of four. If you have a 4-year-old and a 2nd grader, the older child qualifies automatically and the younger child depends on your income.
Wyoming homeschool funding through the ESA is per student, not per family. Three eligible children means $21,000 in accounts, each tracked separately. Funds cover the school year they're awarded for, so plan to use each child's balance within the program year. Check the family handbook for the current rule on unspent balances, because carryover rules can change from year to year.
Homeschool families use the same application as private school families. You'll indicate that your child learns at home rather than at a private school, and no part of the program requires you to enroll in an online academy. Your $7,000 can go entirely toward curriculum, tutoring, and enrichment you choose.
If your child is currently in a public school, you can still apply. You'll need to withdraw them before spending funds, and Wyoming law asks for a one-time written notice to the district when you do.
How to Apply Through the Wyoming Department of Education
Applications run through the Wyoming Department of Education's ESA portal, which you reach from the WDE Education Savings Account page linked above. Odyssey, the program's administrator, built the portal and reviews every application. For the 2026 to 2027 school year, the window opened at 9 a.m. on July 6 and closed at 11:59 p.m. on August 6. Families were told to expect a decision email by September 1.
Returning families get a shortcut. If your student was approved for 2025 to 2026 and you didn't unenroll them, your application pre-populates with last year's information. You verify the details, make any changes, and submit. New families create an account, add each student, and upload documents.
Expect to provide proof of Wyoming residency and documentation of each student's date of birth. PreK applicants also need income paperwork for the 250% poverty-level test. Have digital copies ready before you start, because the portal moves quickly when your files are already scanned.
If you missed this year's window, you have options. Sign up for the WDE's ESA email updates so you hear about the next application period as soon as it's announced. The department has adjusted its timeline more than once because of the litigation, so the dates for 2027 to 2028 may look different from this year's. Questions go to wde-esa@wyo.gov, and the portal also offers phone and chat support.
How Wyoming ESA Homeschool Families Spend Funds on Odyssey
Approval doesn't come with a check or a debit card; your $7,000 sits in an account inside the Odyssey portal, and you spend it by shopping the Wyoming ESA Marketplace. Odyssey explains the setup in its overview of the Wyoming ESA program. The short version is that you find an approved provider, add items to your cart, and check out with scholarship funds. The state pays the vendor directly, and nothing comes out of your pocket.
ArgoPrep is listed on the Wyoming marketplace as an approved education service provider. Search the vendor name, pick the grade-level bundle or individual workbook you want, and the order ships in 2 to 3 days. In our house the print workbooks carry the daily lessons, and the video explanation for every question lets my daughters check their own mistakes without waiting for me.
The marketplace is the default for a reason. Wyoming allows reimbursement only for pre-approved purchases that can't be made through the portal, such as internet fees. You have to contact the WDE ESA finance manager for approval before you buy, and reimbursement requests must be submitted within 30 days with an itemized receipt. Approval is not guaranteed, so treat reimbursement as a backup, not a plan.
What You Can Buy With the Scholarship
Approved expenses include private school tuition, curriculum and textbooks, workbooks and supplemental materials, tutoring, and online courses. They also cover educational therapies, testing fees, and certain extracurricular activities. The WDE family handbook lists the full set with the paperwork each one requires.
For homeschool families the simplest category is curriculum. A print workbook set fits the definition cleanly, arrives fast, and doesn't need a service agreement the way tutoring does. Software subscriptions and online programs also qualify, which is why many families pair workbooks with an online platform for video lessons.
Two Wyoming ESA Homeschool Spending Plans With Real Prices
Numbers make this concrete. The prices below are ArgoPrep's current list prices as of September 2026. Marketplace pricing should match, but confirm the figure in your cart before you check out.
Plan 1: One 2nd Grader With $7,000
Start with the core curriculum. The 2nd Grade Ultimate Bundle, part of ArgoPrep's Ultimate Bundles collection, costs $199.99 and includes 10 workbooks across math, ELA, science, and social studies. That's a full year of daily practice for one child, and every question comes with a video walkthrough.
Add the 12-month online subscription for $179.76 if your child likes screen-based lessons. It gives K through 8 video lectures, quizzes, and drills for math and ELA, plus video lectures and quizzes for science and social studies. It also includes four eBooks, one per subject, that you can swap for a different grade's set every six months.
A summer bridge book, such as the Kids Summer Academy for Grades 2 to 3 at $19.99, keeps skills warm through July. Your ArgoPrep total comes to $399.74, leaving about $6,600 for a reading tutor, a weekly art class, a science co-op, and spring testing fees. Most families I talk to don't run out of money. They run out of hours in the week.
Plan 2: A 4th Grader and an 8th Grader With $14,000
Each child has a separate $7,000 account, so plan them separately. For the 4th grader, the 4th Grade Ultimate Bundle runs $199.99 and covers a year of math, ELA, science, and social studies practice. For the 8th grader, the 8th Grade Ultimate Bundle costs $219.99 and includes 10 workbooks spanning the same four subjects at a middle school level.
That's $419.98 for two full years of print curriculum. Budget one 12-month online subscription per child at $179.76 if you want video lectures and drills to go with the workbooks.
Even with two subscriptions, the combined ArgoPrep spend is under $800, leaving more than $13,000 across the two accounts. Middle schoolers often benefit most from a math tutor two afternoons a week, and the 8th grader's account can also cover testing fees before high school. The 4th grader's leftover balance might go toward a music teacher, an enrichment class, or a co-op day once a week.
Wyoming Homeschool Rules After the Home School Freedom Act
Wyoming was already one of the easier states to homeschool in, and the 2025 Home School Freedom Act made it simpler. Governor Mark Gordon signed House Bill 46 on February 27, 2025, and it took effect July 1, 2025. The law removed the old requirement that families submit their curriculum to the local school district every year. Wyoming became the 12th state with no curriculum submission rule.
What remains is minimal. If your child is currently enrolled in a public school, send the district a one-time written notice when you withdraw them to homeschool. If your child has never attended public school, or you already sent notice in a prior year, you file nothing. There is no annual paperwork, no testing requirement, and no district approval step.
The law still defines what a homeschool must teach. Wyoming calls it a basic academic educational program: sequential instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, civics, history, literature, and science. Nobody reviews your plan anymore, but the expectation stands. A grade-level bundle that covers math, ELA, science, and social studies checks most of those boxes on its own.
Keep records anyway. The ESA program has its own documentation rules, and a simple log of purchases, attendance, and work samples answers most questions before they're asked. Our guide to homeschool record keeping and portfolios walks through a low-effort system that takes about ten minutes a week.
Your Wyoming ESA Checklist for This School Year
Here is the order I'd work through as a Wyoming ESA homeschool parent setting this up for the first time.
- Confirm your status. If you applied in July, check your email for the decision that was due by September 1. If you didn't apply, sign up for WDE updates now so you catch the next window.
- Send your withdrawal notice if needed. Families pulling a child from public school owe the district one written notice. Keep a copy.
- Log in to the Odyssey portal and read the family handbook once, start to finish. Twenty minutes now saves a rejected purchase later.
- Build your curriculum cart first. Core materials for all seven required subjects should be ordered before enrichment, because they're the purchases you can't skip.
- Price out tutoring and classes with the balance that's left. Ask each provider whether they're already on the marketplace, since off-marketplace purchases need pre-approval.
- Start a one-page record for each child: what you bought, when it arrived, and a few work samples per month.
- Check the WDE Education Savings Account page before spring. The lawsuit is still active, and next year's timeline could shift.
Do these in order and the whole setup takes an afternoon. The hardest step is the first one, because it involves waiting on someone else's email.
Putting Your Wyoming ESA Funds to Work
Curriculum is usually the first purchase, and ArgoPrep's Ultimate Bundles cover PreK through 12th grade with 10 workbooks per grade and video explanations for every question. Search for ArgoPrep on the Wyoming ESA Marketplace, or browse the bundles first to pick the right grade for each child. Once the core subjects are covered, your $7,000 goes further than you expect.
