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Lawmakers Face Tough School Funding Decisions Amid Revenue Decline

 

As Wyoming faces declining revenue, lawmakers revising the funding model for the state’s K-12 schools are facing some tough decisions. The model determines how much money each school district will get.

Wyoming’s per-student funding is among the highest in the country. Lawmakers on the Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration Committee say dwindling funds may cause the state to hold the line on education spending.

“It looks like things are going to start getting pretty bleak about 2020,” says Representative David Northrup, who co-chairs the committee. “So, we’re trying to be fairly conservative with what’s happening in recalibration.”

Northrup says one proposed cost-cutting measure is increasing class sizes. Wyoming currently mandates student-teacher ratios of 16 to 1 for elementary students and 21 to 1 for older grades. One-third of districts got waivers last school year to exceed those mandated ratios.

Northrup says increasing class sizes could relieve some capacity issues, but some districts would have to eliminate some teaching positions. 

At the most recent recalibration meeting, Northrup says legislators expressed they “wanted to keep the funding at today’s levels, so that districts and employees had an idea of what was going to happen. There wasn’t going to be a big axe waved and jobs and districts would be cut.”

The state’s next revenue report will be released at the end of this month, ahead of next month’s final scheduled recalibration committee meeting.

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