Teacher salaries, student laptops and school cops have taken center stage as Wyoming leaders rework the state's public school funding model. This recalibration is scheduled to take place every five years.
Hired consultants updated lawmakers last week about their work on the new funding model, which they plan to present in full next month.
Superintendents from around the state urged lawmakers to pay teachers more. The current model factors in summer vacation and treats the job as 75% of full time.
"Whether intended or not, that signals that teaching is worth three-quarters of a job," said Chase Christensen of Sheridan County School District No. 3. "But teaching is one of the most demanding 100% jobs that exists."
Most Wyoming school districts cannot recruit teachers by offering only what the state reimburses. That means they have to supplement what the state gives them as reimbursement with money from their overall block grant, and can still come up short.
"If we gave them the money that the state put into the model, we would be reducing their salary," said Teresa Chaulk, superintendent for Lincoln County School District No. 1. "Forty-six of your 48 districts pay more than the model allows."
Significant details, like teacher salaries and target class sizes, are still up in the air. But the consultants say Wyoming needs to increase funding for school counselors, resource officers and student meals. That's in no small part because of a recent court order ruling the state has been underfunding these areas.
Jeremy Smith, the business manager for Sheridan County School District No. 1, said his district places a high value on school safety — even though the state doesn’t provide for it.
"I don't really care what it costs to keep our kids safe," he said. "I gotta be honest, it doesn't. It doesn't matter what the dollar cost of that is."
Smith said his district has resource officers, cameras, door access control and teachers with concealed carry.
"We're doing everything we can, but you're not paying the bill,” he said. "That's coming out of other components of the funding model that we've decided to do because our school board says that's the most important thing we're going to do."
According to the same court order, "nutrition is an essential component of a quality education."
The consultants have not made any specific recommendation regarding school meals, but noted last week that making no change to the current program would probably violate the court order. For districts across the state, food service expenditures are consistently higher than revenues, according to the consultants' presentation, meaning schools have to fund school breakfasts and lunches out of their block grant as well.
It’s not all increases. The plan will also recommend cutting librarians, school secretaries and assistant principals.
Lawrence Picus, the lead consultant, said the loss of librarians would be offset by more computer or media tech positions.
“I believe by the time it all sort of washes through, there are probably more resources to help students — and, in fact, teachers — with things,” he said. “But it's more technology and media-based than the old school library that I remember.”
The lawmakers will also likely make big decisions about target class sizes, funding for career and technical education, and substitute teacher pay when the consultants deliver their full proposal during the recalibration committee’s next meeting Oct. 28-29 in Casper.
“We’ll come back with ideas,” Picus said. “If there’s things that you think we should be looking at that we don't appear to be, we’re obviously open to hear what you have to say.”
