The Wyoming lawmakers tasked with reworking the funding model for public schools can ignore a ruling of a lower court from earlier this year, at least temporarily.
Members of the Legislature’s Recalibration Committee are overseeing a review that’s mandated to take place every five years. They started that work in the shadow of a court ruling directing them to better fund teacher salaries, provide support for school counselors and make sure every student has a laptop.
But the committee is free to ignore those specific obligations for the time being, following a stay issued by the Wyoming Supreme Court earlier this month.
“That said, the Constitution still applies,” said Kim Amen, who runs the Wyoming Education Association, which brought the original lawsuit. “The requirements of the Constitution to fully fund public education still apply.”
Amen’s organization, which represents teachers, alleged Wyoming is unconstitutionally underfunding its public schools. A lower court agreed earlier this year, ordering the state to better fund school resource officers, hot lunches and more.
As Wyoming’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration worked through the summer and into the fall on new school funding rationales and adjustments, the private consultants hired by the state to craft that plan incorporated many of the court’s specifically mandated provisions.
But simultaneously, the state appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard arguments earlier this month and issued a stay on the lower court’s earlier ruling on Nov. 12.
While the recalibration process will continue, the specific provisions mandated by the lower court’s ruling don’t have to be adopted until and unless a final ruling from the state’s high court says so.
It’s unknown when that ruling will be issued. But the recalibrators will bring their proposal for a reworked public school funding model to the full Wyoming Legislature in February.
That means there’s a good chance state leaders decide the immediate future of public school funding before there’s a final answer in the lawsuit.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder issued a statement in response to an emailed list of questions. Degenfelder, who has defended the state’s position, said Wyoming “has one of the most robust and generous school funding systems in the country, spending more per pupil than any state in our region and all but a handful others nationwide.”
Wyoming spends about $20,000 per student, according to the Education Data Initiative, more than any state it borders and more than twice as much as Idaho or Utah.
“I take our Constitutional obligations seriously and want to achieve a highly educated citizenry as well as efficient government spending,” she wrote. “I look forward to the Supreme Court's ultimate decision in the case, as well as the Legislature's Select Committee for School Finance Recalibration work to update and revise the funding model so it continues to reflect a reasonable estimate of cost."
During the Recalibration Committee’s most recent meeting, some lawmakers were already downplaying the lower court’s order as the opinion of “simply” one judge and suggesting the committee push consideration of laptops and other specifics until after the 2026 Budget Session.
Sen. Tim Salazar (R-Riverton), co-chair of the Recalibration Committee, did not respond to requests for comment.
