A district judge in Cheyenne says he will rule in a week whether to restore the powers and duties recently taken away from state schools Superintendent Cindy Hill.Judge Thomas Campbell heard more than two hours of testimony and arguments Thursday in Hill's lawsuit challenging a new law that removed her as head of the Wyoming Education Department. The law replaces the superintendent with a director appointed by the governor but keeps the superintendent as a statewide elected official.The attorney for Hill and the other two plaintiffs Clara and Kerry Powers argued the law violates the Wyoming Constitution by usurping the superintendent's office and the voters who elected her in 2010.

Hill asked Judge Campbell to restore her previous duties while the case is litigated. The attorney for the state argued that Senate File 104 was not unconstitutional because the legislature set up the Department of Education and put the Superintendent of Public Instruction in charge of the department by statute in 1969. He added that Senate File 104 made changes to the statutory duties of the Superintendent, but she still has her duties under the constitution.

 

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