✨ Quick Summary
- What it is: The Wyoming ESA, also called the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship, is Wyoming's K-12 education savings account. The state gives you $7,000 per child for 2026-2027 to spend on approved learning costs.
- Who qualifies: Wyoming residents age 4 through grade 12 who aren't enrolled in a public school. No income limit for K-12 students.
- The timing: The 2026-2027 application window closed August 6. Approval emails go out by September 1, and the next window opens in early summer.
- How to spend it: Your funds live in the Odyssey portal, where you shop approved providers including Guide Dots for art curriculum.
If you applied for Wyoming's ESA this summer, your approval email is landing right about now. That means $7,000 per child sitting in an Odyssey account, waiting for you to spend it.
Here's how the program works after a year of legal limbo, what counts as an approved expense, and how to put your funds toward a real education for your child, including at-home art curriculum.
For the bigger picture on how these accounts work across the country, see our complete guide to homeschool funding and ESAs.
Is the Wyoming ESA Still Blocked?
As of August 2026, no. If you've read that the program is frozen, that information is out of date.
A lawsuit filed in June 2025 led to a court injunction that stopped Wyoming from paying out ESA funds for most of the 2025-2026 school year. In May 2026, the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed that injunction. The state is authorized to distribute funds again and is processing 2026-2027 applications right now.
The broader case is still working its way through district court. According to the Wyoming Department of Education, there's no indication that participating families would be held personally liable for repaying properly disbursed funds if the law were later overturned.
What Is the Wyoming ESA?
The Wyoming ESA is a state-funded account you control. Instead of your child's share of education funding going to a public school, the state deposits it into an account you spend on approved learning costs.
The program started in 2024 with income limits attached. In 2025, House Bill 199 renamed it the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act, opened it to every K-12 student in the state, and raised the award to $7,000. You'll see both names used interchangeably.
Who Qualifies for a Wyoming ESA?
Wyoming's ESA has two eligibility tracks.
K-12 students. No income limit. Your child qualifies if they're a Wyoming resident, are in kindergarten through grade 12, and aren't enrolled in a public school.
Pre-kindergarten students. For pre-k students, household income has to be at or below 250% of the federal poverty guidelines, which is around $80,375 for a family of four. Your child also has to be at least 4 years old. The WDE publishes a qualifying income table for other household sizes.
⚠️ Mark June 30 on Your Calendar
Staying in the program means your child takes an annual assessment, either Wyoming's statewide test or a nationally normed achievement exam. Results have to be uploaded to their portal by June 30. Miss that deadline and your student may lose eligibility for the following year. The WDE publishes a list of approved test options.
How Much You Get, and When You Get It
The award is $7,000 per student for the 2026-2027 school year, paid quarterly rather than all at once. It's per child, so two eligible kids means two accounts and $14,000 for the year.
There's one leftover from the injunction worth knowing about. Because the court's ruling wasn't retroactive, families can't be reimbursed for their full 2025-2026 costs. The fourth-quarter payment of $1,750 does roll into 2026-2027, though, for students who were previously approved and weren't enrolled in public school last year. You'll need to complete the 2026-2027 application to access it.
What Can You Spend Wyoming ESA Funds On?
The approved categories cover most of what a homeschool year costs:
- Textbooks and curriculum
- Tutoring services
- Tuition and fees at a participating school
- Educational technology
- Educational therapies such as behavioral or speech-language therapy
- Classes or extracurricular activities at a public or public charter school
- Fees for summer and after-school programs
- School uniforms
- College admission test and AP exam costs
- Transportation to education service providers
Not every product a vendor sells is automatically approved, and some categories carry price caps. Odyssey publishes the current restrictions in its Wyoming help center, and the WDE's allowable expense guidance covers the rest.
Shopping the Odyssey Marketplace
Wyoming runs the ESA through the Odyssey platform. Your funds don't arrive as cash. They sit in your Odyssey account, and you spend them in a marketplace stocked with approved providers.
Anything listed there has already cleared approval, so you're not uploading receipts or chasing paperwork afterward. If something you want isn't in the marketplace, reimbursement exists as a backup, but only with written pre-approval from the WDE's ESA Finance Manager before you spend. Requests have to go in within 30 days of purchase, and approval isn't guaranteed without that first step.
Meet Guide Dots: Your Child's At-Home Art Teacher
Guide Dots is an approved vendor in the Wyoming ESA marketplace, which means your state funds can bring a teacher-led art curriculum right into your living room.
Founded by Ms. Cindra, an art teacher with an education degree who ran her own brick-and-mortar art school, Guide Dots takes a proven studio method and puts it in a box on your kitchen table:
- Art teacher-led video lessons. Your child learns REAL art skills straight from Ms. Cindra, who walks them through concepts step by step.
- An exclusive light tablet. This is the tool behind proportion mastery, helping young artists create drawings that finally look the way they pictured them.
- Intentionally placed dot guides. These act as scaffolding for your child's hand. As their skills grow, the guides give them fewer dots so they lean on the technique instead.
Let's handle the big question first: isn't this just connect-the-dots? Nope! The light tablet and the intentional dot guides teach your child to see and understand proportion, so they create their own work and feel proud of it.
Guide Dots is self-paced and needs little to no adult help, so your child can work independently while you catch your breath. Every starter kit ships with artist-grade supplies, so there's no separate trip to the craft store and no guessing about what to buy.
How to Get Guide Dots with Your Wyoming ESA Funds
Once your ESA account is active, bringing Guide Dots home takes a few minutes:
- Sign in to your Odyssey account using the credentials you set up during your application.
- Click the Marketplace icon in the top right of your dashboard.
- Search for Guide Dots and open our storefront.
- Select the student you're purchasing for and confirm their available funds.
- Add your starter kit to the cart and click Submit Order.
- Watch for your confirmation email. Once the order clears processing, your kit ships to your door.
No out-of-pocket payment. Your state funds cover it, and the kit arrives ready to open and go.
Missed the Application Window?
The 2026-2027 window closed on August 6, 2026. Though the 2027-28 window hasn’t been officially announced yet, mark early summer on next year's calendar. Families already in the program get a prepopulated application to confirm or update rather than starting from scratch.
Ready to Bring Art Into Your Homeschool?
Your ESA is a chance to give your child a full education, art included. If your funds are ready in your Odyssey portal, you can get Guide Dots today and watch your child create art they are proud to hang on the fridge.
No ESA funds yet? No problem. Our starter kits begin at $93 and ship free, with everything your child needs to start creating today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Wyoming have an ESA program?
Yes. Wyoming's Education Savings Account program, also called the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship, gives eligible students $7,000 per year for approved education expenses. The program is active and distributing funds as of September 2026.
What is the latest update on the Wyoming ESA lawsuit?
In May 2026, the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed the preliminary injunction that had blocked the program and sent the case back to district court. Wyoming is now authorized to distribute funds. The underlying question of the program's constitutionality is still being litigated.
Can you use Wyoming ESA funds for homeschool curriculum?
Yes. Textbooks and curriculum are approved expenses, which is how families put their funds toward programs like Guide Dots. Shopping through the Odyssey marketplace is the cleanest route since those items are pre-approved.
Are there any grants available for homeschooling in Wyoming?
The ESA is the main state-funded option, and at $7,000 per child it covers a large share of what a homeschool year costs. Your child can't be enrolled in a public school to participate.
Which states offer ESAs?
A growing number of states run education savings accounts, sometimes under names like EFA, Hope Scholarship, or Steamboat Legacy Scholarship. Each state sets its own rules and approved vendor lists. You can see where Guide Dots is approved on our ESA page.
