Bill Winney, Republican candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, says he is running for the office because he thinks the wyoming department of education needs leadership.

I had a way about me of sitting down and looking at an organization, and seeing how it really ran, you know there's people who say we run things this way and then when you look at what they do they really aren't doing it that way. But seeing how they really organize and how they really run things and then figuring out what the things are that caused them to be less capable and less productive than what they might be.

Winney worked for the U.S. Navy as a Chief Engineer and commanded both submarines and a submarine tender. Winney led crews and was responsible for their training and improvement. Winney said if he were elected superintendent, one of his first actions would be to go to every school district and find out what it needs to be more successful. Winney added that he would also spend time with legislators working on education bills.

You have to carry with you what you are going to do. You have to form a plan. You have to say to them (legislators) here is what I am thinking. Have them chew on it a little bit and come back and say we would rather do this instead of that.

Winney says he is not in favor of the Common Core Standards because most teachers he has talked to about them say they are way toointrusive in the classroom. Winney added that he thinks the districts spend too much time testing and believes the districts should be the ones making the decisions that are best for their districts.

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