Committee supports additional funding for Wyoming's K-12 schools

Oct. 26—CHEYENNE — The fiscal impacts of a pandemic that struck society over three years ago is still felt by Wyoming K-12 school districts, where schools struggle to afford inflated costs of educational materials and retain teachers.

School district leaders and state organizations, such as the Wyoming Education Association, urged lawmakers to advance a recommended $68 million external cost adjustment on Wednesday. The ECA, which was built into the education block grant model to relieve school districts of the costs of inflation, was moved forward by members of the Joint Appropriations Committee during their meeting that day.

The Joint Education Committee recommended a cumulative sustained ECA, and Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, asked whether the ECA would be a permanent part of education funding, including next year's budget.

Matt Willmarth, senior school finance analyst for the Legislative Service Office, confirmed the ECA would be a part of education funding until the next recalibration period, which will be in 2025.

Inflationary costs for educational materials and energy are based off of national indices, Willmarth said, and personnel costs are reflected off the pay of workers comparable to public education teachers in Wyoming.

"If the national trend on (educational material and energy costs) is going down, they will reflect the national trend," Willmarth said. "If the comparable wages in Wyoming are increasing due to inflation, (personnel costs) will be reflected in that."

ECAs, which are reviewed on an annual basis, fluctuate depending on national trends. The national cost index for energy was negative in 2021, Willmarth said, which was reflected in a cumulative ECA for the 2022-23 school year.

This year's ECA, as fully recommended, is split into four categories:

— Energy: 14.669%, or $7.4 million

— Educational materials: 21.852%, or $30.3 million

— Professional staff: 3.871%, or $25.2 million

— Non-professional staff: 4.106%, or $5.1 million

This estimate will be modified in two ways by the end of December.

The first will allocate resources to school districts based on recent school enrollment numbers, where the number of students will influence the allocation of resources to each district.

The other modification is a possible slight change on the two cost indices for materials and energy, based on finalized data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"They won't change dramatically, but they may fluctuate," Willmarth said.

'COVID hangover' drives up costs for educational materials

Rep. Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander, pointed out that nearly 22% of the ECA recommendation was for educational materials, which is almost 20 percentage points higher than the ECA recommendation in the 2019-20 school year.

Willmarth said this was a result of the "COVID hangover" from inflated costs during the pandemic, where educational materials still felt the brunt of inflation.

Laramie County School District 1 has seen higher costs for custodial supplies, office and classroom furniture and paper, said Jed Cicarelli, the district's chief finance officer. The cost of ice melt and other cleaning supplies has gone up by 16% or more over the last two years, he said.

"We've seen more than a 60% increase in the cost of purchasing things like paper," Cicarelli said. "A standard student desk is up 27%. A standard chair for a student is up 29%."

Non-tangible items, such as contract services, also are more expensive. Services and programs provided by the school district, such as student-athlete programs and office administration, are all "driven off of that ECA adjustment" for educational materials.

"I don't think you're going to find a single school district in Wyoming that's going to tell you that they haven't felt the pinch from increasing costs," Cicarelli said. "Our property insurance alone for my district is up almost a million dollars over the last four years."

WEA: High-quality teachers are worth state investment

Wyoming Education Association government relations director Tate Mullen said his group has seen "the largest gap in comparable salaries" since it began tracking data, which coincided with a substantial increase in exit rates.

"We know that student performance is directly related to high-quality educators in the classroom. These dollars help districts retain and attract those high-quality educators," Mullen said. "They are a necessity for our education system."

Teachers were surveyed by the Wyoming Teacher Apprenticeship, an initiative that strategizes how to boost teacher retention, on what they needed to best support them in their career. One of "several overarching recommendations" was more offered resources, according to documents provided by the Wyoming Department of Education.

The WTA survey results also found that 1 in 5 teachers are likely to leave teaching next year, and 1 in 3 teachers reported they were likely to leave in the next two years.

A higher salary was the highest-ranked priority for teachers, with 78% of survey respondents saying it was a number one priority. The second-highest ranked priority was stronger administrative support, followed by additional behavior support for students, greater respect from students and reduced high-stakes testing.

LCSD1 and other school districts across Wyoming have struggled to fill vacant positions, especially in special education, along with physical therapists and school psychologists.

"We do continue to compete with the Front Range for teachers," Cicarelli said. "We've watched our neighbors put (up to) $5,000 on their (base salary) to be more competitive."

Jerry Smith, the business manager for Sheridan County School District 1, echoed this concern.

"Even us medium-sized districts could use help with attracting and retaining the best staff members we can find," Smith said.

Richard Garrett, a Cheyenne resident whose daughter is set to graduate from the University of Wyoming College of Education in June, urged the committee to move the ECA recommendation forward.

"I selfishly want to keep her in the state," Garrett said. "I want to do everything I can to urge you to pass this bill."

Hannah Shields is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached at 307-633-3167 or hshields@wyomingnews.com. You can follow her on X @happyfeet004.