In Wyoming, energy industry revenues and public school funding go hand-in-hand. That was on display when funding cuts hit the Pinedale High School (PHS) alpine ski team, possibly jeopardizing the state's whole league.
Wyoming high school alpine ski racing goes back at least 50 years. In order to be formally recognized there has to be six teams in the state, according to the Wyoming High School Activities Association. For years, there’s been exactly six.
“If a school district can't fund a team, and it falls down to five, then there's no high school skiing in Wyoming,” said Scott Auld, who helps fundraise for the PHS team and is president of the local ski and snowboard association.
Auld said the PHS ski program was hit with a $15,000 cut this spring. Big enough to possibly end the program. That’s largely the result of natural gas revenue declining in Sublette County, which is the anchor point of the county’s budget.
Historically, two of the top 10 producing fields in the country are based in Sublette County. However, natural gas production in Wyoming has decreased since 2015.
In years past, one of the sources of funding for extracurricular activities in the Sublette County School District No. 1 came from the county’s Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), a state education outreach program. BOCES is funded by a mill levy on Sublette County property taxes, the bulk of which comes from the nearby natural gas fields.
That symbiotic relationship was on display in the peak of the county’s natural gas boom in 2009. According to BOCES records, during that fiscal year, the mill levy brought in about $2.8 million to BOCES, with about $790,000 going to the school system. The numbers have fluctuated over the years, but trended downward. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, there was about a $1 million revenue drop in the levy, translating to about $521,000 going to the schools.
The numbers are more grim looking forward. So far the levy has brought in $667,000 to BOCES with about two months left in the fiscal year.
Projections for the upcoming fiscal year are $400,000 – an 85% cut from the 2009 boom days. BOCES will continue to fund what’s statutorily required in the schools, like distance learning, but nothing else, like alpine ski racing.
“Those are really tough decisions to make, but the bottom line is there's only this much money, and we've got to spread it a little thinner this year,” said Auld. “The tax revenues are down and the school budgets are down.”
This was echoed by David Thrash, the Pinedale High School’s activities director, and Sublette County No. 1 School Board Chair Angie Murphy. Murphy added there are two other factors that play into the school system’s declining budget. She said enrollment is down, trending about 30 kids less each year. Fewer students means less money from the state. Also, Wyoming wasn’t awarded another five-year federal literacy grant. In 2020, the state received about $8.6 million from that grant to divvy out to school districts. According to Murphy, it helped fund six positions in her district.
All-in-all, the funding woes led to cuts to about a 20 percent cut to the school activities budget. For the ski team, that meant fewer hotels, dinners and ski lift tickets covered by the school. The alpine circuit involves five races, in Laramie, Pinedale, Cody/Red Lodge, Jackson and two in Casper. Typically students hit the road Thursday and come back Saturday evening.
Additionally, the team didn’t receive county dollars to purchase season passes to the local ski hill. Auld, who coached the team two seasons prior, said that’s key for training. The students practice at the resort multiple times a week after school.
All those costs combined would’ve been a hefty ask for students to fork over for a school sport, said Auld.
“Some parents can afford it, but maybe some can't,” Auld said. “So we decided we didn't want to find out, and we were just gonna see if we could rally the community and get it taken care of.”
Between fundraising over the last month and the ski hill donating the season passes, they got the $15,000.
Auld said that’ll “keep the high school skiing circuit head above water for another year.” He added that having alpine ski racing as a sport for teenagers is valuable.
“You're not in a gymnasium, you're not on a football field, you're out in the mountains,” he said. “I think you do have to have a little more self-discipline when you're skiing, because you're not confined, like your coach can't see you all the time.”
It’s possible these community funding efforts will continue in the years to come. State projections through 2028 predict Sublette County’s natural gas revenues will keep declining.
