TORRINGTON – Despite what state lawmakers refer to as positive steps in the Wyoming economy, the legislature this week rejected a proposal to change the education funding model, ending a nine-month, roughly $800,000 review that set out to examine an education system facing a significant funding shortfall.

The proposal, drafted by Denver-based consultants Augenblick, Paliach and Associates, was praised by lawmakers even as they turned it down.

Sen. Hank Coe, who chaired the committee that oversaw recalibration, told the consultants they shouldn’t walk away feeling they had failed. Speaker Steve Harshman said the process was a learning experience. Sen. Bill Landen called it a good exercise.

But at the end of the day, “it went down zero to 10,” Coe said.

Jean Chrostoski, superintendent of Goshen County School District No. 1, spent two days this week, listening to the debate in Cheyenne. The outcome didn’t come as a surprise, she said.

“I feel the committee appreciated the work of the consulting firm and will probably use some of the recommendations in the future,” Chrostoski said in an email Thursday. “But, as a whole, they did not move forward with their full recommendations. The positive side of this process is the legislature now know Wyoming is not ‘over-funding’ education.”