Governor Mead’s supplemental budget request released Monday includes 15 million dollars for an inflation adjustment for Wyoming’s K-12 schools.
Cost-of-living adjustments have not been figured into school funding in recent years, and a coalition of school districts has been meeting with the Governor and lawmakers to push for the funding.
Sweetwater County School District Two Superintendent Donna Little- Kaumo is part of that group. She says the recommendation made by the Joint Education Committee in October—and seconded by Mead on Monday—is the right move.
“We’re very pleased with this outcome,” Little-Kaumo says. “We’ve been in dialogue with the Governor and out legislators over a period of time in the past few months—and we’re thrilled that this inflation adjustment is important—and he’s recommending that for the state of Wyoming.”
The coalition estimates that a lack of inflation adjustments have cost Wyoming schools more than $150 million dollars in recent years.
Mead’s proposal mirrors a recommendation made by the Legislature’s Joint Education Committee in October.