Wyoming House Advances Legislation to Address Education Deficit

NEWS RELEASE
Majority of the Wyoming House of Representatives

Wyoming House Advances Legislation to Address Education Deficit

House Bill 173 Includes Reductions, Diversion, Federal Funding and Back-Up Half-Penny ‘Insurance Policy’ to Correct Structural Revenue Shortfall

(Cheyenne, WY) — The Wyoming House of Representatives advanced legislation on Tuesday that takes a full-picture approach to solving the state’s K-12 Education funding deficit. House Bill 173 would leverage spending reductions, revenue diversions, federal stimulus funding and a potential half-percent sales tax for education, triggered if state reserves were to fall below a critical level, to close structural revenue shortfalls.

Opinion: Senate Bill Will Fund Teachers, Reduce Administrative Costs

 

Senate Bill Will Fund Teachers, Reduce Administrative Costs

March 24, 2021
Casper Star Tribune
By Senator Charles Scott, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee

The Wyoming Legislature faces the difficult task this session of correcting a large and growing structural deficit in our K-12 education system. Without legislative action, our schools will require $250 million of stopgap funding from the state’s “rainy day” fund annually to backfill the revenue shortfall, which is not sustainable.

That’s a big hole to fill. But it owes largely to significant growth in spending, for which Wyoming has not reaped the benefits. We have experienced diminishing returns on our investment in K-12 education, where more money has not produced better outcomes.

Structural Deficits Present a Challenging Outlook for Wyoming’s K-12 Education Funding

NEWS RELEASE
Majority of the Wyoming House of Representatives

Structural Deficits Present a Challenging Outlook for Wyoming’s K-12 Education Funding

Falling Mineral, Energy Production and Prices Have Created Unsustainable Revenue Shortfalls that Will Require Increased Revenue, Spending Reductions or a Combination to Solve

(Cheyenne, WY) – Wyoming’s K-12 Education (School Foundation Program (SFP) and School Capital Construction Account (SCCA)) are facing a $300 million annual structural deficit. This shortfall owes to rapidly declining coal and natural gas production and prices, which have reduced the State’s funding sources and diminished school district property tax collections.

 

Wyoming funds its schools like most states—with property taxes. Wyoming is blessed in that minerals pay 50% of our property taxes, allowing Wyoming residents, old and new, to enjoy the fifth-lowest property taxes in the country.