WYOMING SCHOOLS AT A CROSSROADS: State Senator Will Push for More K-12 Education Funding

By Shen Wu Tan

Special to the Wyoming Truth

A state senator vowed to do whatever he can to persuade his colleagues in a Wyoming legislature committee to approve more funding for public education as the state faces accusations of underfunding education in an ongoing court case.

Sen. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson), a member of the Joint Appropriations Committee, said that Gov. Mark Gordon’s recent recommendation of a $70 million external cost adjustment for K-12 education is more appropriate than the $43 million his committee suggested last month.

“I’m going to work on pressing my colleagues that the $70 million number is a better number,” Gierau said. “I believe we have enough money in our reserve account and in our general fund to fund K-12 education to the degree and extent that is necessary to provide a quality education for the children of Wyoming. The only thing we’re lacking right now is the will to do it…. I’m looking forward to working as hard as I can to make sure that we have the will and we have the votes to do it.”

Earlier this month, the governor accepted the Joint Education Interim Committee’s recommendation for a $70 million external cost adjustment for K-12 education funding for the 2023-2024 fiscal year to account for inflation and costs of living in his proposed supplemental budget that he submitted to the legislature.

Wyoming is facing a shortage of teachers and support professionals such as bus drivers and custodians, who have cited low pay and a burdensome workload as some reasons for leaving the education field. Figures from the Wyoming School Boards Association show there were over 70 unfilled job positions at school districts across the state as of Nov. 25. 

Of the $70 million, $10.2 million is for the second year of the fiscal year 2023, which begins in July, according to Matthew Willmarth, senior school finance analyst for the Legislative Service Office.

The education committee also recommended $59.8 million for an external cost adjustment for fiscal year 2024: $15.8 million for educational materials, $10.8 million for energy costs, $26.7 million for professional workers and $6.4 million for non-professional workers, an Oct. 14 memo to the Joint Appropriations Committee shows.

“Wyoming’s people, like other Americans, are feeling the hurt of inflation,” Gordon said about his proposed supplemental budget in a recent statement. “But unlike much of the rest of the nation, Wyoming’s economy has responded surprisingly well because of our fiscal conservatism. We must respond to inflationary costs of construction, bring our employee compensation closer to market, set ourselves up to power the nation toward energy independence and address the rising costs of homeownership for our most vulnerable citizens.”  

Next actions for the governor’s recommendation

The Joint Appropriations Committee did not forward the $15.8 million for educational materials and the $10.8 million for energy costs as part of the external cost adjustment.  Instead, the committee only recommended about $43.3 million in additional funds, Willmarth noted.

It is now up to the Joint Appropriations Committee to review the governor’s proposed supplemental budget. The committee will start to hold its supplementary budget meetings next month.

The full Wyoming legislature will make a final decision about the supplemental budget during its upcoming general session, which starts Jan. 10. The $70 million, if approved by the appropriations committee and full Wyoming legislature, would be pulled from the School Foundation Program, which includes monies from property taxes, federal mineral royalties, motor vehicle registration fees and other smaller revenue sources.  

Rep. Jerry Paxton (R-Encampment), chairman of the House Education Committee, supports Gordon’s recommendation.

“We are experiencing a teacher shortage for probably the first time in some of the areas,” Paxton told the Wyoming Truth. “Now, we’re even having problems recruiting and retaining elementary [school] teachers. The states around us, we look at the salaries, and we’re fairly competitive in most cases. But we used to be able to recruit teachers from Utah, but since they’ve increased their wages, that seems to be a problem.”

“We haven’t given the external cost adjustment the way I think we should’ve,” he said about the appropriations committee’s recommendation for K-12 education funding. “It didn’t follow the recommendations of the education committee. So, I think what the governor is proposing is a good move, and I’m supportive of it…. We’re trying to get caught up the best way we can.”

The $70 million, while more than the $43 million suggested by the appropriations committee, is less than the $90 million amount needed to meet the level of education funding calculated by consultants and the Legislative Service Office.

Education funding court case against the state

Wyoming is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Wyoming Education Association (WEA) over education funding. In August, the association sued the state, asserting it violated its constitutional obligation of providing adequate funding for public education.

However, the association did compliment Gordon for following the Joint Education Interim Committee’s recommendation of giving school districts another $70 million for external cost adjustments in his proposed supplemental budget.

“WEA commends the governor for recognizing the importance of providing a cost-based external cost adjustment,” Tate Mullen, government relations director of the Wyoming Education Association, told the Wyoming Truth. “Districts are trying to provide for students’ needs. The cost of everything is skyrocketing in an economic climate of extreme inflation. Our students depend on high-quality education employees, safe, clean, learning environments, and adequate technology and materials in our public schools. To pay for utilities, materials, and personnel costs, districts need resources.”

Mullen estimates that Wyoming spends an average of $16,000 per student, which is higher than most U.S. states. Yet, he argues that the rural nature of Wyoming poses some unique challenges, noting that the state has many smaller communities but not larger cities that can absorb some of the education costs.

“When you have communities that have smaller populations, and they are constitutionally given the right to an adequate and equitable education, that means we need to provide those smaller communities with the same type of education that we’re providing at our larger communities,” Mullen said. “Because they are smaller communities, that cost goes up.”

Mullen described a “trickle down and snowball effect” when it comes to underfunding education. It could translate to school districts not having the resources needed to attract and retain essential staff, teachers not having enough time for lesson planning and suffering from burnout because of a lack of substitute teachers and classroom sizes increasing due to a staff shortage.

On Nov. 7, Judge Peter H. Froelicher heard arguments in the WEA court case against the state in the district court in the 1st Judicial District in Laramie County. The judge has until the second week in December to issue a written ruling on the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

“Wyoming education has to be funded first and foremost before any other obligation: department of health, corrections,” Mullen said. “This is just something that our founding fathers recognized that is going to be imperative to the success of Wyoming, Wyoming citizens, and our cities, towns and counties…. We need an educated population to be able to provide an educated workforce to drive an economy.”

Linda Finnerty, a spokesperson for the Wyoming Department of Education, declined to comment about the association’s lawsuit against the state.

She did say that the department has “full confidence in the legislative process and looks forward to participating in the ongoing discussions about how to adequately fund education in Wyoming.”