A Cheyenne-based judge on Tuesday denied a request by the state of Wyoming to let a new school-choice program operate while a legal challenge against it churns in the state’s only appellate court.

Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher on June 27 blocked the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act from going into effect, while the Wyoming Education Association and nine parents of public-school children challenge it as unconstitutional.

Scheduled to have begun July 1, the act would have allocated up to $7,000 per year per child to qualifying families on a first-come, first-served basis to spend on approved private school and homeschool programs via state-held scholarship accounts.

When Froelicher blocked the program from going into effect throughout the case’s lifespan, he based

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