By Noah Zahn
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration concluded a rigorous, two-day meeting Wednesday dedicated to updating the state’s K-12 funding model, a process mandated every five years.

This year’s recalibration is viewed as particularly vital as it follows a district court ruling that found the Legislature was unconstitutionally underfunding public education.

Throughout the meeting, committee discussions were anchored in a balance of state fiscal concerns with constitutional obligations.

Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, who is both a co-chairman of the committee and a Wyoming Freedom Caucus founding member, noted that this undertaking has been one of the most difficult tasks for many members. The committee ultimately issued directives to legislative staff to start drafting a recalibration bill, setting the stage for further legislative discussions in the upcoming session.

 

Teacher pay and recruitment crisis

The issue of teacher compensation was a central focus, driven by consultant data and public testimony highlighting ongoing recruitment and retention challenges.

Christiana Stoddard, a Legislative Service Office consultant and professor of economics at Montana State University, presented a salary analysis indicating that the average salary paid to teachers by districts for the 2024-25 school year was $65,265. 

If the adopted External Cost Adjustment of 8.5% were applied, the average salary for 2025-26 would be approximately $70,812. This figure would be competitive with 2024-25 wages in neighboring states like Colorado and Utah, she said.

Despite Wyoming historically ranking highly nationwide in public school operational spending, some educators argued that pay remains inadequate. 

Laramie County School District 1 parent Katie Christopherson emphasized that salaries are not keeping up with the cost of living, making recruitment and retention difficult.

“Your decisions regarding this recalibration and school funding as a whole will directly affect students. If we want Wyoming to be an attractive place to live and work, we need to invest in our schools, including those who spend each day with students,” she said. “If we want Wyoming students to stay or come back to Wyoming, we need to incentivize them with a competitive salary.” 

Kiley McConnell, a second- year teacher from Sheridan County School District 3, urged lawmakers to set a base rate of pay that respects the profession, recommending a base salary of $70,000 no matter the class size.

“The opportunity for me to be investing back into my community, wanting to stay where I am and continue to teach, becomes more and more difficult because of the salary limits,” she said.

Data presented by Stoddard also showed a shrinking teacher pipeline as the number of bachelor’s degrees in education awarded by the University of Wyoming fell from about 200 annually to closer to 150 in 2025, a trend Stoddard said is possibly, in part, indicative of discouraging wages.

 

Regional cost adjustment

The Regional Cost Adjustment, which accounts for geographical differences in labor costs, faced sharp criticism. Lori Taylor, a consultant involved in the recalibration process, highlighted that the hedonic wage index used in the current RCA was established in 2005 and has not been updated since, failing to reflect significant changes in labor market conditions over the past two decades.

Jeremy Smith, business manager for Sheridan County School District 1, publicly challenged the integrity of the existing mechanism, stating the current RCA is a “political compromise” rather than a mathematical construct. 

He provided a specific example where Sheridan County School District 2 receives 7% more money than SCSD1.

“That’s a ridiculous outcome, right?” he said.

The outlier of Teton County School District 1 was also discussed; while funded with an RCA 70% above the state average, TCSD1’s starting salaries are approximately 30% above the state average. 

Kristin Mayo, the school district’s director of resources, noted that the district pays $22,000 per year for health insurance and emphasized that total compensation is crucial for attracting talent.

Lawmakers directed staff to draft a bill that uses the 2025 non-wage index for K-12 funding and instructed Taylor to refine how the Teton County outlier is handled.

 

Addressing court-ordered elements

The committee spent considerable time reviewing the elements mandated for recalibration by the court ruling: school resource officers, school nutrition and mental health counselors.

Consultant Michael Griffith with Picus Odden & Associates reviewed options for funding SROs, noting the court found they provide tangible educational benefits by fostering improved student learning through safety and security. Smith suggested allocating a per-Average Daily Membership amount for student safety to cover costs associated with SROs, mental health counselors and camera systems.

The court also mandated that the funding model include a nutrition component, requiring that general funds should not be needed to cover food services. Districts reported subsidizing their food programs, many by six figures. Questions were raised about minimizing waste and potentially adopting closed campuses to encourage participation.

Consultants noted agreement on the need for additional mental health support, particularly for elementary students where they are currently not provided for in the funding model. 

Alex Petrino, president of the Wyoming Counseling Association, testified that funding mental health is essential, urging the committee to embed it as a basic element of education.

“My message today is simple, we do not have a thoroughly efficient education system without fully funding student mental health. When mental health is overlooked, every other investment, teachers, curriculum, technology, yields less. When it is prioritized, schools become stronger, families become more stable and communities become safer and more resilient,” she said.

 

Small schools and reserves

A common concern raised by smaller districts was the “cliff effect” in the small school adjustment, where losing one student could trigger a major funding reduction. 

Amanda Brown, another consultant working on the recalibration process, outlined in a memo a mechanism designed to eliminate the possibility of a district losing hundreds of thousands of dollars due to a single student shift.

The committee also tackled the issue of cash reserves. 

Current state law allows districts to maintain up to 30% of its foundation program, but this is set to drop to 15% beginning in 2026. District officials testified that they need larger reserves to manage the gap between front-loaded expenditures and revenues, which often arrive only twice a year from property taxes.

 

Directives for draft bill

Following two days of presentation and testimony, the committee issued several directives to the LSO to construct a draft bill for review at the next meeting in January, the final meeting before the budget session starts in February.

The primary focus is compensation, with directions to draft salaries reflecting the latest labor market studies and a re-based hedonic wage index. Lawmakers set substitute teacher pay at $185 per day and mandated that all districts join the state health insurance plan. To improve district finances, the bill will eliminate the current five-year payment plan for buses, requiring 100% reimbursement when buses are purchased.

In a balance of concerns, lawmakers directed staff to cap cash reserves at 20% of the foundation program amount. 

The committee also prioritized specialized programs by increasing the Career Technical Education teacher weight to 34%. However, the bill currently retains the $250 per ADM technology funding level and rejects implementing the more costly one-computer- to-student ratio model until further study can be completed. 

LSO staff was also instructed to continue work on issues like SROs and nutrition programs in the 2026 interim.

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