As lawmakers debate Wyoming’s budget this week, a group of school superintendents is urging them to keep school funding intact.
The Joint Appropriations Committee cut school funding by $45 million over the next two years. The superintendents say lawmakers have not accounted for decreases within the school funding model.
“The amendment by the JAC would really exacerbate the problem caused by shrinking enrollment in the communities across our state and cut school funding much more severely than intended,” says Don Dihle, business manager at Campbell County School District.
Using historical enrollment data, legislative staff predicts Wyoming’s enrollment to increase by about 2,000 students over the next two years. But Dihle did his own projections, based on Wyoming’s oil bust in the 1980s. He says Wyoming could lose 4,000 students.
Student enrollment is the biggest driver of school funding within the model, so Dihle estimates the state could end up spending $100 million less on schools than it plans to.
“I’m hopeful that the legislature will reconsider and restore the funding to the 2016 level, knowing that enrollment losses alone will drop the state expenditure required for school foundation funding,” Dihle says.
The House and Senate are debating the budget bill this week.
