GOSHEN COUNTY – The Goshen County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees addressed impending state-level budget cuts aimed at K-12 education at their regular meeting on Tuesday night, Feb. 9.
Goshen County’s legislative delegation, Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, Rep. Hans Hunt and Rep. Shelly Duncan addressed Wyoming’s revenue shortfalls and possible solutions that stand to impact all of Wyoming’s 28 school districts. Declining energy production and prices have created a budget deficit that will only increase in the next five years, leaving the legislature with the options to generate new revenue via taxes, reduce government programs or some combination of the two, Steinmetz told the board.
“At this juncture right now, having gone through the governor’s recommendations of reductions to the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, our senior citizens, to almost every agency and service across the state, that will affect our communities in so many dramatic ways, these are not easy decisions that we want to make, but we don’t have a choice because of our revenue situation,” said Steinmetz, a member of the Joint Appropriations Committee.
In Goshen County, average daily membership (ADM), or enrollment, is down by 70 students this year, which will result in a loss of roughly $1 million in the next fiscal year if that number stays the same. Superintendent Ryan Kramer acknowledged COVID-19 has driven some families to homeschool their children this year, so it is likely that ADM could increase by next year. It will be uncertain until April, the end of the legislative session, how much the district’s budget will be impacted by legislative reduction, Steinmetz said.
Board Chair Mark Jespersen said the district could face a total reduction of $3.9 million. The board will hold a work session on Feb. 23 to discuss how much of the district’s contingency fund, or carry-over, trustees want to use to “weather the storm.”
A proposed penny tax dedicated entirely to K-12 education would generate roughly $164.2 million, a measure backed by the Wyoming Education Association and the Wyoming School Board Association.
“Right now, I could say from the Senate side of things, until we make some reductions that our constituents have asked us to do, we will probably not be as favorable to tax increases,” Steinmetz said.
“I don’t think it’s very likely,” Hunt agreed.
Board member Carlos Saucedo pushed back on the notion that a one percent sales and use tax funding education would not be worth implementing.
“We’re looking at reductions and changing the picture, but to me, it seems a small price to pay for our kids’ education or people’s lives,” Saucedo said.
Kramer said the district is ultimately unsure what cuts will amount to until they are finalized in the legislature. A $3.1 million, or 10% budget reduction could eliminate 13 certified and six non-certified staff member positions throughout Goshen County schools.
“You can at least start to picture what that means in regards to job loss for the district, what that would mean in programming,” Kramer said. “There are so many question marks out there right now. The sooner we get answers and the sooner we start committing to what we are comfortable with in regards to that carry over, we can start to look at the future.”
Ultimately, the decline of oil, gas and coal create a grim outlook for the state’s budget, as does the Biden administration’s ban on oil and gas leasing that funnels $150 million a year into Wyoming K-12 education, said State Superintendent Jillian Balow in a recent press release.
“We all love our students, our teachers, our schools, our communities,” Steinmetz said. “But the reality of the situation is we can’t continue the way we are.”
Resignations, purchases and updates
In other business, the board approved resignations of 10 staff members, including Torrington High School Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Dave Plendl and GCSD Director of Curriculum Donna Fields.
The consent agenda was approved as presented, as were purchases of multiple devices for students and staff and technological infrastructures for the district, which are partially paid for by e-rate funding. The board also approved the purchase of two 42-passenger busses that will be reimbursed by the state over five years, according to Business Manager Marcy Cates, and screening and refinishing all district gym floors excluding LaGrange Elementary, a measure necessary for safety reasons.
Trail Elementary Principal Tyler Floerchinger and Rob Flock, dean of students at Lincoln and Trail elementary schools, presented Trail’s new problem-solving measures, including a problem solving team and points-based behavioral support system.
“We’re going to have good and bad days but when we have our bad days, we need to make sure these students leave our classrooms knowing the teachers care,” Flock said of the new programs.
Kramer told the board GCSD schools will hold graduation ceremonies outdoors on May 23 with contingency plans for inclement weather. Prom is scheduled for April 24, an event for which the district will likely have to request a variance due to COVID-19, but Kramer said if case numbers stay low, it should be granted.
The board’s work session on school budgeting and the Wyoming education funding model is scheduled for Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. The next regular board meeting will be March 2 at 7 p.m. rescheduled from March 9.
