A bill to fund Wyoming’s K-12 public-school system got a second shot Friday when the Wyoming Senate introduced it into the chamber. The unanimous vote came four days after an identical bill failed introduction in the House in what one senator called a “surprise” outcome.
The Legislature is constitutionally required to fund its public schools and is tasked every five years with a “recalibration” process. The exhaustive task involves assessing the state’s school funding model and making necessary updates based on current cost models.
The Legislature’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration worked for months to draft the measure with help from consultants and hours of public testimony. Though educators and members of the public expressed strong opposition to parts of it, the committee voted unanimously in January to advance its draft bill to the budget session.
But on opening day of the 68th Wyoming Legislature, House Bill 110, “K-12 Public School Finance,” failed introduction with 41 in favor and 21 opposed. That was one vote shy of the two-thirds majority required for a bill to advance in a budget session.
In the aftermath, the failure was interpreted as a reflection of strong opposition among educators who have decried the bill for increasing class sizes, mandating districts participate in the state health insurance plan and diminishing local control. The bill’s immediate demise caught some by surprise.
“I thought we had an agreement,” Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton said Friday on the Senate Floor. He co-chairs the Legislature’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration. “We had a unanimous vote coming out of the recalibration committee, and quite frankly I’m surprised about this. Nevertheless, we as the Senate can correct whatever happened down there, [and] keep recalibration alive.”
Salazar presented the Senate version of the bill, Senate File 81, “K-12 public school finance-2,” which his colleagues unanimously voted to introduce. The bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee for further consideration.
The outcome of the recalibration legislation will impact everything from teacher pay to mental health counseling and teacher-student ratios in all 48 districts.
That is why it’s so important to get right, according to Kim Amen, president of the Wyoming Education Association, which represents more than 6,000 of the state’s public school employees.
“While we appreciate the work that has gone into this process, the current bill is not fully cost-based and does not adequately reflect the real and rising costs facing our public schools,” Amen said in a Friday statement. “Wyoming students deserve a cost-based funding model that is grounded in need.”
Court ruling
The recalibration process has unfolded in a series of meetings, studies and assessments that began last summer. It comes with extra gravity following a 2025 court decision that Wyoming has failed to adequately fund its public schools and must remedy that.
The legal decision came after the WEA sued Wyoming. In his ruling, Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher determined the Legislature had violated the state constitution on several accounts — from not properly adjusting for inflation and not funding school resource officers to failing to provide salaries sufficient to recruit and retain the personnel needed to deliver the quality of education guaranteed in the Wyoming Constitution.
Froelicher’s decision loomed large as lawmakers worked with consultants to draft and refine a bill dictating how Wyoming would pay for public schools.
Lawmakers emphasized several times that they were working in good faith to fund the state’s schools. Still, educators and others scrutinized the process, pressing legislators for teacher salary raises, a request lawmakers heeded. There was also vehement opposition to provisions to increase class sizes and mandate state health insurance participation.
The voting bloc that killed the measure in the House on Monday included several Democrats and a handful of moderate Republicans.
In presenting the bill to the Senate on Friday, Salazar said “it adheres to what I believe are the wishes of the court on funding of K-12 education.”
Amen’s organization will stay involved in hopes of shaping legislation that she said truly fits Wyoming public school needs.
“WEA will continue working with legislators to strengthen this legislation and advocate for key amendments,” including yearly cost-adjustments, decreased class sizes, bigger salaries for all education staff and removing the insurance plan mandate, Amen said.
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