Legislators, school district officials talk about upcoming session

SHERIDAN — With the start of the 2024 budget session two months away, five Sheridan County legislators joined Sheridan County School District 2 staff and board members for a roundtable discussion of the local education community’s hopes and concerns in the leadup to the session.
 
Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Parkman, and Reps. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo; Cyrus Western, R-Big Horn; and Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan all participated in the roundtable discussion at district offices Nov. 28, with Sen. Dave Kinskey, R-Sheridan, participating via Zoom.
For Superintendent Scott Stults, the annual roundtable is exemplary of the special kind of relationship that local schools have with their legislators.
 
“We consider it, truly, to be a partnership,” Stults said. “…We know not all districts can say that, and I firmly believe that we work together toward the end result, which is what is best for kids.”
 
Below are a few of the highlights from the hour-plus of conversation.
 
Cost adjustments and hiring, housing woes
 
Stults asked legislators to support a recommended external cost adjustment being proposed this year. Since 2012, the Legislature has used four separate indices to monitor inflationary pressures and determine appropriate external cost adjustments for the major components of the school funding model: professional staff, nonprofessional staff, utilities and educational materials. Regular cost adjustments prevent inflation from eroding the purchasing power of Wyoming school districts.
 
The currently recommended cost adjustment includes a 14.67% increase for energy; a 21.85% increase for education materials; a 3.87% increase for professional staff; and a 4.11% increase for nonprofessional staff, Stults said. In total, the Joint Appropriation Committee is recommending to Gov. Mark Gordon and the Legislature a full cost adjustment of $68 million for the 2024-2025 school year.
 
Stults also asked legislators for continued support of the regional cost adjustment that districts across the state receive to account for area-specific inflation. One bill brought forth by the Joint Education Committee this session would require the Legislature to study and analyze the currently-in-use regional adjustments, Stults said.
 
Stults said the regional cost adjustment was particularly helpful when it came to employee pay, providing an extra $3,712 for every SCSD2 teacher beyond what is provided in the state’s funding model. These extra dollars help with recruitment and retention, Stults said.
 
“We know it’s much more expensive to live here in Sheridan,” Stults said. “And we know that quality teachers make the biggest difference in the lives of our kids and make the biggest difference in student learning.”
 
The extra funding is particularly helpful due to skyrocketing housing costs in the county, Stults said. A typical home in the county costs $376,400, Stults said, which is 11.3% more expensive than the national average of $338,100 and 16% higher than the average Wyoming home, which costs $324,500.
 
The average two-bedroom apartment in Sheridan costs $1,400, which is 39% of the gross revenue for a first-year teacher, Stults said.
Due partially to increased housing costs, the district has seen a significant decline in teacher applications, he said.
 
“For the first time in my history of 25 years, we have a teaching position at the high school we could not fill this year,” Stults said. “So, as a result, unfortunately those 100 students had to be rerouted to other classes.”
 
Stults said the district has actively been pursuing solutions to housing and staffing issues, including purchasing a teacherage on the Bridges property. But any financial help the Legislature can provide in increasing teacher salaries will ensure continued quality education for students, he said.
 
One of the Legislature’s most anticipated conversations in 2024 — reducing property taxes — will also have a sizable impact on affordability of teacher housing in Sheridan County, Crago said.
 
“What we decide on property taxes will probably have the most dramatic effect on education going forward,” Crago said.
 

 
Education savings accounts and school choice
 
The possibility of a Wyoming education savings account system, which was discussed and eventually died during the 2023 session, is back up for consideration in 2024, courtesy of the Joint Education Committee.
 
Under the original proposal from Speaker of the House Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, select families could apply for “education savings accounts,” similar to school vouchers, that would entitle them to thousands of dollars per student. They could then use that money for a range of educational expenses, including school uniforms, textbooks, summer programs and tuition to private and religious schools.
 
The bill draft eventually passed by the Joint Education Committee earlier this month significantly alters that intent, to the degree that Biteman argued the draft “doesn’t really do anything.” But Stults still expressed concern about how the proposed savings account system could undermine local public education.
 
“We feel like it impacts us, because what could possibly transpire is parents could choose to say ‘Great, we’re going to take this $5,000 and enroll in a private school, or into a charter school.’…We’re going to lose ADM (average daily membership, or number of students), and we know that the block grant is determined by ADM…we would also see a decline in Major Maintenance, because Major Maintenance is also determined by ADM.”
 
Biteman pushed back on Stults’ concerns saying SCSD2 had little to worry about.
 
“You’re one of the top school districts in the state — I don’t think it’s going to affect you at all, honestly,” Biteman said. “There might be some parents that prefer a private or religious education for their child, but it’s going to be a handful of kids. I don’t really expect it to have any impact whatsoever here in Sheridan.”
 
Crago, on the other hand, said the proposal could indeed have an impact on local schools, and it was something local administrators should be watching closely.
 
“Kids will leave your schools (if this passes),” Crago said. “I think some of them will come back; maybe most of them will come back. But it will have an impact. People always like to try a new option when it’s presented to them.”
 
Crago said while he supported school choice, he strongly believed any proposed solution “should not be detrimental to our public school system,” and he encouraged both school choice supporters and critics to work together to find a mutual solution.
 
“Politically speaking, I think it is probably coming, whether you like it or not,” Crago said. “So the question is ‘What is the ultimate solution, and how can you support school choice without hurting public schools?’ I think there’s a way to do that, but that’s what we have to figure out.”
 
The 2024 budget session begins Feb. 12 in Cheyenne.
 
This story was published on November 29, 2023.