Dive Brief:

• The Wyoming Board of Education is set to continue reviewing the state's science benchmarks now that a ban against using the Next Generation Science Standards has been repealed. 
• Last year, a last-minute provision thrown into a budget line prevented the review or funding of the standards, which were developed by a 26-state consortium in collaboration with organizations like the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Research Council, and Achieve.
• Objection to the standards came from legislators who criticized the teaching of man-made climate change as fact.

Dive Insight:

The 26 states behind the NGSS had agreed an upgrade was needed since most hadn't updated their science standards since 1996. By December 2014, at least 12 states and the District of Columbia had signed onto the standards, though there was an expectation that all 26 states would eventually sign on. Those that initially hadn't were Wyoming and West Virginia — both states with ties to fossil fuel industries.

Thirty scientists unanimously advised Wyoming to adopt the benchmarks before legislators banned them last year. At the time, Republican Rep. Matt Teeter had argued that, as the nation's largest energy exporter, Wyoming would be harmed by the teaching of man-made climate change as fact.

The state's review process is expected to begin again on March 17.