SWEETWATER COUNTY Sweetwater County School District (SCSD) No. 1 was joined by SCSD No. 2 and a few local legislators Wednesday night for an informational virtual meeting regarding upcoming legislation targeted at K-12 education funding.
There are several bills in the upcoming legislative session that have been drafted to cut K-12 funding. One of these bills is House Bill 61, which aims to cut the School Foundation Program Account by $100 million starting Fiscal Year 2022, and each year thereafter. That equates about a 7 percent decrease in funding, or $1,000 per student in Wyoming, according to Chris Dean, SCSD No. 2 Business Manager.
The two school boards expressed their concerns during the meeting, in which Wyoming House of Representative members Chad Banks, Clark Stith, and Scott Heiner were in attendance.
Wyoming to debate cutting K-12 funding by $100 million to help avoid budget shortfalls By Brendan LaChance on February 9, 2021
(Dan Cepeda, Oil City)
CASPER, Wyo. The Wyoming Legislature will reconvene their 2021 General Session in March and one of the may topics of debate will be what should be done with K-12 education spending.
House Majority Floor Leader Albert Sommers (Sublette County) said during a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 9 that the legislature will debate a proposal to cut K-12 education funding (provided through the School Foundation Program Account) by $100 million per year.
Wyoming Senate and House majority leaders said during the press conference that they expect the work of the legislature this session will be able to ensure a balanced budget for the remainder of the 2021-2022 biennium.