September 29, 2023 |
Photo – Wyoming Joint Education Meeting – Courtesy YouTube
Meeting in Casper this week, the Joint Education and Appropriations Committees of the Wyoming legislature heard testimony on cost adjustments for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. The three-and-a-half hour meeting ended with lawmakers voting to set aside an additional $68 million to help Wyoming’s schools keep pace with inflationary pressures.
State Senator Cheri Steinmetz, representing Goshen, Niobrara and Weston Counties was the lone dissenting vote.
The committee’s vote to support the full cost adjustment for schools as recommended by the Legislative Service Office allocates an extra $30.3 million for staff, $30.3 million for “educational materials” and $7.4 million for energy.
The budget recommendation for K-12 schools faces more vetting by the appropriations committees before it goes to the floor next year.
At this week’s meeting, Natrona Senator Charles Scott noted that lawmakers might quibble with individual numbers contained in the budget projections from LSO, but the committee had to take action to prevent Wyoming from falling behind other states.
The legislation passed yesterday represents a $1.7 billion increase overall for schools. The significance of the education committee’s vote was not entirely clear, even to seasoned lawmakers such as Senator Tara Nethercott, the Laramie County attorney who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The bill approved this week by the education committee still has a long legislative gauntlet ahead of it. The education committee’s funding recommendation will now be dissected by Joint Appropriations Committee, which will make its own suggestion to the Legislature and Gov. Mark Gordon ahead of next year’s legislative session.
