Being a good steward Kachelhoffer — reappointed to School Facilities Commission

On Mar. 4, Newcastle resident Joni Kachelhoffer was confirmed by the Wyoming State Senate for reappointment to the School Facilities Commission. Kachelhoffer will continue representing Weston, Crook and Niobrara counties.

Kachelhoffer’s first term on the commission ended in February, and while terms on the commission typically run four years, hers was a five-year term. It was extended by one year due to the challenge of filling the position.

“Sometimes, especially in our more sparsely populated counties, it is tricky to find people to serve on the commission,” she said.

This, she explained, is due to the fact that such service can take time away from one’s regular job, which can disincentivize eligible candidates, and then there is the matter of eligibility. Members of the seven-seat commission are required to represent certain areas pertinent to the mission of “(ensuring) the efficient, flexible and responsible flow of funds to build and maintain cost-effective, adequate and equitable school facilities that best serve the needs of Wyoming students.” For instance, one member represents the area of “estimating, bidding and building construction,” while another represents the perspective of school district administration.

Kachelhoffer holds one of the three at-large positions. Unlike the other two at-large members, she is also responsible for bringing her school board experience to the commission, having previously served as a member of the Weston County School District No. 1 board of trustees.

As explained by Kachelhoffer, school districts used to be responsible for funding their own schools with county taxes, but it was determined in a series of court cases in the 1990s that this approach was inequitable and needed to be changed.

“(The old system) resulted in huge disparities between mineral rich counties and counties with no minerals,” she explained.

Therefore, the responsibility for funding K-12 education was shifted to the state, and, according to Kachelhoffer, the School Facilities Commission was created to “prioritize spending for building and maintaining any building associated with the school district.”

The process for determining how much to allot to each district is relatively complex, requiring multiple steps and the involvement of other parts of state government.

First, each school district compiles a list of needs, such as the construction of new buildings, major maintenance projects and day-to-day building operation costs.

Every two years, the commission hires an outside consultant to evaluate the buildings of all the school districts in the state. The consultant puts together an analysis for the commission that has a number score and other relevant data for each building and district, thereby providing an unbiased third-party review. The commission then considers this analysis to prioritize districts and projects.

The commission is part of the State Construction Department, which uses the commission’s input to create a priority list that includes project timelines. The department then submits the priority list to the governor, who considers whether or not to allocate the requested funding in his budget. Then the Legislature considers the governor’s proposed budget, and the two parties work together to consolidate any differences in order to fashion the final state budget for the year.

Kachelhoffer characterized her first term as “very educational and eye opening to the struggles and problems across the state, especially now as budgets are tightening.”

She said that with diminishing mineral revenues, the focus has shifted from constructing new facilities to maintaining those that already exist. The funding problem is compounded by other issues that were not as pronounced in the past, such as security. An example Kachelhoffer shared was a school with an outdated building design requiring renovations to make the building more secure, such as relocating the main office from the middle of the campus to the front.

If a district disagrees with the commission’s determination regarding the necessity of a project, Kachelhoffer
said that the district can request a “most cost-effective study.” In such an instance, an expert is called in to evaluate numerous options and recommend an economically efficient solution.

“We try and look out for every district, but we also are responsible for being good stewards of state money,” she said.