This story is part of a collaborative legislative initiative by WyoFile, Wyoming Tribune Eagle, The Sheridan Press and Jackson Hole News&Guide to deliver comprehensive coverage of Wyoming’s 2026 budget session.
CHEYENNE—In a move one lawmaker called a “bill killer” and another said is unconstitutional, the Wyoming House of Representatives made sweeping changes Tuesday to the K-12 school finance recalibration bill on second reading.
Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, brought an amendment to remove language from the bill that would allow Teton County to adjust for regional cost differences when considering school district salaries.
As it came to the House, Senate File 81, “K-12 public school finance-2,” included language that salaries be adjusted for regional cost differences using the hedonic wage index, as computed in a 2025 cost of education study.
Heiner proposed removing language allowing for recalculation in places with a higher cost of living. Specifically, the language removed Tuesday stated that if there was a difference between a school district’s rebased Wyoming cost-of-living index and its rebased hedonic wage index of greater 33 percentage points, the difference minus 33 points would be added to a district’s rebased hedonic wage index.
Heiner argued that allowing Teton County to follow that calculation, without his amendment, would allocate $6.9 million in additional funding to the region. With the amendment, the same area would receive $740,000 less in funding next year than it does today, he said, but the funding would “catch up” after the first year.
“So, (do) we raise it up to be $6.9 million higher than what our evidence-based model said it should be, for that one school district? I’m sure all of your school districts would like $6.9 million extra,” Heiner said.
“This is what you call a bill killer.”
Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper
He continued that “staff attorneys” had advised him that they were uncomfortable with the bill as drafted, “where, with the regional cost adjustment, we are treating one district different than all the rest.”
The amendment would provide “a level playing field” for all Wyoming school districts by ensuring all follow the same regional cost adjustment, Heiner said.
“(It) makes everyone the same, so 47 school districts can’t sue because we have one school district being preferentially treated,” he said.
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, spoke out against the amendment. He called many parts of the recalibration bill a “compromise,” and without the language removed Tuesday, said it would penalize Teton County.
“I argue that, frankly, it’s better that we have it (the original) way, because we shouldn’t be hurting school districts because their cost of living is higher,” Yin said.
Further, he continued that no staff attorney had shared the opinion with him that the calculation was ill advised. Yin said when he spoke with consultants during the recalibration process, they said the model “worked nicely.”
Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper, also urged the body to resist the amendment.
“This is what you call a bill killer. This has come this far in the process, a lot of compromise to get here,” he said. “Fairness does not mean equal.”
Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, said that without the language removed Tuesday, the recalibration effort replicates a past educational funding issue much debated in the 1990s and 2000s, when the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in several Campbell County cases that school funding must be fairly allocated across the districts, despite the amount of revenue any one community collects.
“Putting in the exact same regional cost adjustment, and going to the exact same model across the board, puts us exactly back where we were when (those cases were) discussed,” Brown said. “That is actually what got us in trouble. … You’re saying that we no longer recognize that it costs more to provide an education in Teton County than it does in Niobrara County. That is patently false.”
Brown also questioned Heiner about his role as the “voice” of staff attorneys.
“They’re claiming to be the voice of our attorneys, I think we should all have access to that same information,” he said, adding that the changes to the bill would lead down a “dangerous road.”
“But again, if I can be convinced that our attorneys are telling us that this is the right way to go, I’ll eat my words,” Brown said.
Heiner’s amendment passed in a 34-24 vote. After the vote, Yin registered a complaint with Speaker of the House Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett.
“Pursuant to our House rules, I would like to lodge a protest to the House,” Yin said. “I would protest that the action that we just took on the recalibration bill makes our recalibration bill unconstitutional, if we pass it as is.”
Other failed amendments
Twice this week, Rep. JD Williams, R-Lusk, tried to remove language that would change the educational funding allocation to a block grant model, rather than a categorical grant, or siloed funding model, which he said will harm small school districts. On Monday, he proposed returning to a block grant in total.
“This amendment returns the management and decision making to the local school boards,” Williams said Monday.
Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, spoke against the amendment, saying that siloed funding was the “glue” that held the bill together, ensuring additional funding gets to the teachers and into classrooms instead of being used for any other purpose.
“What we are saying as a Legislature is that the classroom is a priority, and we selected the amount, 100%, is for the classroom.”
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette
On Tuesday, Williams proposed allowing flexibility that 85% of the siloed funding stay earmarked for classroom use, but that 15% be used at a district’s discretion. That amendment also failed.
“This is an attempt to give my local districts a little bit of latitude,” Williams said. “I don’t believe the Legislature intends to tie my districts’ hands … but the smaller the district, the more they are bound by the categorical grant arrangement.”
Williams continued that the categorical grant could lead to a reduction in secretarial, custodial and extracurricular positions.
Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, argued against the amendment.
“This amendment simply says that the dollar amount that we have determined (go to the classroom) should be reduced by 15%, that it can be outside the silo,” Bear said. “What we are saying as a Legislature is that the classroom is a priority, and we selected the amount, 100%, is for the classroom.”
Did any of the lawyers confirm they spoke with heiner? Or, was he on record while lying to everyone?
Let us look at the competing ideas of equal and equitable. Equal means all the same regardless of external or extenuating circumstance. Equitable means that all can access the playing field in accordance with their circumstances. The perfect meme for this is 3 children watching a sports match from the opposing side of a fence. The 3 children are different ages -5, 13, 18 (let’s say). Equal means they all step up to the fence, but only the tallest can see over—that’s equal. Equitable means the tallest needs no help, the middle child only needs a crate, and the shortest uses a small ladder—now all can see over. Equal means we don’t use wheel chair ramps for entry, we make them crawl; we don’t have Braille books we, we just tell the blind to learn how to read; we don’t allow hearing aids, we just tell the hearing impaired to get over it. Is it too much to ask that our representation use well-informed decision making rather than tribalistic blather?
Take a deep breath and sing along:
“There’s nothing surer– the rich get rich and the poor get poorer.
In the meantime, in between time, ain’t we got fun!”
–Gus Kahn and Raymond B. Egan. from the musical, “Tin Pan Alley” (1921).
Sounds like it’s time to scrap the entire recalibration bill as it stands, have the Governor call a special session, and rewrite the entire bill from the ground up.
What a tangled mess!